3 ms·

> I have a manager who is extremely people-oriented. It's nice, but mostly in the sense of not doing harm. Team meetings are full of kindness and accolades, but

> I have a manager who is extremely people-oriented. It's nice, but mostly in the sense of not doing harm. Team meetings are full of kindness and accolades, but people aren't engaged because the meetings lack substance and purpose. We have the meetings primarily to "feel like a team", rather than to engage in the purpose the team exists for. I recently left a role mainly because of the same situation. In short, there was no team in the true sense of the word. The meetings were listless, just people in a room / on a Zoom. The level of energy and engagement forever teetering on empty. Simply put, this isn't management, it's bad management. Kindness to the point of mindless is not sustainable. Management can have many colors so to speak, but forgettable beige should not be one of them.

atentaten 5y ago
What do you think could fix this issue of low engagement during the Zoom meetings?
- civilized 5y ago
  It's on the manager to put an end to shallow, robotic management theater and replace it with something meaningful or at least enjoyable. Don't do the round-robin project updates that are of no value to anyone - if you've set up the culture correctly, people will talk to each other when they need to. Use the time to do something that is of interest to everyone on the team, even if it's not directly related to the everyday work. If you can't think of anything, don't hold the meeting and think harder when you're planning for next week's meeting.
- chiefalchemist 5y ago
  Ultimately, it's a symptom. But it helps to have an agenda. Perhaps an "assignment." It also requires someone - don't necessarily have to be the manager - to facilitate. I get it. On-site teams to remote teams is work. But at this point, if leadership and management haven't figured it out then they're either negligent or incompotent. How do you fix that? Either an excess in training or pink slips. I'm not saying someone should be sacked for being a bad manager. I'm saying they should be sacked for being content with being bad, and making no effort to fix that.

atentaten 5y ago

What do you think could fix this issue of low engagement during the Zoom meetings?

civilized 5y ago
It's on the manager to put an end to shallow, robotic management theater and replace it with something meaningful or at least enjoyable. Don't do the round-robin project updates that are of no value to anyone - if you've set up the culture correctly, people will talk to each other when they need to. Use the time to do something that is of interest to everyone on the team, even if it's not directly related to the everyday work. If you can't think of anything, don't hold the meeting and think harder when you're planning for next week's meeting.
chiefalchemist 5y ago
Ultimately, it's a symptom. But it helps to have an agenda. Perhaps an "assignment." It also requires someone - don't necessarily have to be the manager - to facilitate. I get it. On-site teams to remote teams is work. But at this point, if leadership and management haven't figured it out then they're either negligent or incompotent. How do you fix that? Either an excess in training or pink slips. I'm not saying someone should be sacked for being a bad manager. I'm saying they should be sacked for being content with being bad, and making no effort to fix that.