Have any meetings you’ve attended ever started on time? If you’ve had the same experience I have, probably not. When I worked at Walt Disney Co., the meetings always started about 20 minutes late, took two and a half hours, and usually changed nothing and accomplished little.
One day it was announced that a new vice president had been hired. No big deal; we had lots of vice presidents. This one, however would be in charge of the division in which I had my department.
About a week after George* arrived, he called a meeting of all his supervisors and department managers. The meeting was called for 1:30 p.m. on a Thursday. As usual, I was there a few minutes before the appointed time along with a few others and the VP himself. (It’s a habit of mine to be on time for meetings. I see it as a simple courtesy.) 1:30 came and a few more people dribbled in. Then 1:45 and a few more people showed up. Finally, around 1:55, the final person arrived and George called the meeting to order with these words, “This meeting is now adjourned and will reconvene tomorrow (Friday) at 5:30 p.m. Those of you who are not here then do not need to come in on Monday morning.”
Of course, 5 p.m. Friday was when everyone was scrambling out of their offices to start the weekend and a 5:30 meeting meant we would probably be there in the meeting until at least 7 p.m., maybe later.
No one was ever late to one of George’s meetings after that.
The lesson here is simple. Make sure that “your people” (and this applies to employees, children, committee members, volunteers) understand exactly what it is that you want, tell them when you want it — and then hold them to your expectations. Make them responsible for the results you expect.
Disney was an interesting place to work. It was a company founded on the principle of creativity and freedom of expression, and that showed in many ways. Business attire was predictably informal. Everyone, up to and including Walt Disney himself, was on a first name basis. New ideas could come from anyone, anywhere any time. (Space Mountain was the idea of a Disneyland employee who built a miniature version out of toothpicks in his garage. The vice president of Disney World in Florida started out as a Jungle Cruise ride operator.)
Click here for a related story on a Secrets of Survival workshop sponsored by SCORE-Service Corps of Retired Executives. The workshop, headlined by entrepreneur and philanthropist Paul Orfalea, will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday at the Santa Barbara Public Library’s Faulkner Gallery. A panel of SCORE experts will share their expertise with small business owners grappling with today’s fragile economy. Admission is free but reservations are strongly recommended. Click here for more information or call 805.563.0084.
* Not his real name
Paul Burri is an entrepreneur, inventor, columnist, engineer and iconoclast. He is not in the advertising business but he is a small business counselor with the Santa Barbara chapter of the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE).