Sustainable Land Development Today - October 2007 - (Page 62)

THE LAST WORD Meetings and the Key of E By Rod Johnston Each Thursday morning in my office, we hold a project “Roundtable” meeting. Now, my office is relatively small. Eight chairs full of people and we are pretty much packed. In a prior article, I explained how I like to decorate my office walls with plan sheets and marked-up drawings. These wall displays are for the eye and hopefully also for the mind. I also keep a subdued FM broadcast, fresh out of Asheville, North Carolina, streaming through the air. Most of the time, I listen to classical music. Here, pieces from Beethoven, Hayden, and Mozart usually catch my ear, but occasionally, I get lucky and manage to dial into some raw folk or mountain-inspired bluegrass music. In truth though, I concentrate so hard that I rarely hear much of any of it. At the end of particularly draining days, I’ve been known to abandon my standard radio channels and tune to some hard driving rock and roll. Not too much, and not too loud, but just enough to get me through the end-of-the-day emails and out the door. I shut off the computer, kill the radio, hit the lights, and then head for the parking lot. The next day, I reverse the process from the parking lot in. I imagine that this scenario is pretty typical for most of you, also. Getting back to our “Roundtable” meetings, managers from our Building Construction Department, Land and Planning Department the Design Center and other departments are usually in attendance. A number of consultants may also attend depending on what’s on the agenda for discussion. Most meetings last as long as necessary and can last up to two hours of more. Naturally, nine or ten people crammed into a room, for any type of meeting, tend to get restless. You know what I’m taking about. I’m sure that you’ve been there. As the clock drags on, some attention spans diminish, extended doodling can 62 October 2007 Sustainable Land Development Today lead to fantastic examples of detailed, but meaningless art, small conversations sprout up often characterized by light giggling, eyes darting to see who notices. As a result important items, usually toward the end of the agenda, risk being trivialized or even ignored in the name of adjournment. It’s a fact that the vast majority of meeting participant’s love collecting their pads and pencils and heading for the exit sign and I can’t say that I blame them. People want out. Recently though, I think that I’ve stumbled into a way to keep our meetings a bit more productive while at the same time, exciting enough to keep our people glued to their seats. Here’s how. A few Thursdays ago I followed my routine into the office and prepared for our weekly morning Roundtable. Within a half hour, as the meeting participants filed in and took their seats, I noticed that they appeared looser and more jovial. As the meeting progressed, I saw more smiles, more pencil tapping, and a subtle, but definite flow in everyone’s physical demeanor. The group seemed to move in unison, like a pod of underwater salt grass flowing as one in a warm ocean current. Moreover, participation seemed to increase. Conversations were more spontaneous and everybody seemed more “into it.” I couldn’t put my finger on it. As I updated my notes, I watched, trying to figure it out. Then, “Don’t Look Back,” a ‘70s song by a group called Boston, came over the radio. I’ve always been fond of the tune and apparently, so was everybody else. That song was followed by a live rendition of “Rock & Roll All Nite,” a hard-charging KISS standard. This is when things got interesting. One manager broke ranks to explain how he and his boy went to see Boston in concert, and just couldn’t believe how good they were, but what he really wanted to see was KISS in concert. The group retrogressed into a brief discussion of favorite concerts and such before we got a grip and brought the whole thing back to problems with one particular contractor and preparing slopes for the upcoming autumn rains. To shorten a long story, the meeting ended quicker and everybody ranted and raved about how we should have our meetings with rock music playing in the background. In looking back as to how I dialed into rock music, and then stayed there, I recall coming in that morning and turning on the radio only to hear a relatively soft rock song called “Seagull,” by Bad Company, being broadcast. I had left the radio on that rock station after working late the evening before. Though I intended to tune to my usual classical station, “Seagull” was now filling my space and it sounded fine, for the time being. I continued my routine and inadvertently forgot about the music. Before I knew it, people were filling the room and the Roundtable was underway. In coming to terms with having rock music playing softly in the background, I brought the matter up to our meeting participants for one final opinion. The result? They told me that if I keep the rock station on, we’d have better meetings. I believe them. Thus far, after three meetings and a regular dose of The Who, they are right. Our meetings have improved. I do however, after each Thursday meeting, tune back to classical. The formula works – so far. SLDT Rod Johnston is an author and consultant for the land development industry. He has written two books, including Planning for Site Development. Rod is also a member of the SLDT editorial board.

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Sustainable Land Development Today - October 2007

Sustainable Land Development Today - October 2007 Contents Our Voice Your Voice Editorial Board Mapping the Development Process Looking at a New Dimension The Environmental Liability Continuum GPS System Makes the Grade Regulations: Reactions Mixed Trends: Communications Easements Business Management: Recycling Sustainable Practices: LEED-ND Energy: Community Propane Systems Transportation: Mountain Solutions Recommended Reading Calendar Products/Services Showcase Classifieds Advertiser Index The Last Word

Sustainable Land Development Today - October 2007

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