Turkish Delight & Bad Bad meetings...

Hey there,

I should have handled this better.

It only happened 12 days ago

and I’m still stewing over it while releasing the sticky, sweet sumptuous flavour of proper Rose Turkish Delight…

allowing it to melt on my tongue (currently on holiday to be clear).

The online meeting was only scheduled for 30mins and there were 7 of us on the call.

I’d fallen into the typical Procurement trap though .

Procurement = Meeting admin.

To support the RFI, I’d agreed to arrange calls with the suppliers.

I then found myself ‘holding the pen’ to take the meeting notes and issue the actions.

_{Hint - this is not the valuable use of Procurement time}

Btw…I now use microsoft Co-pilot to do this for me so it really is no work, but my point is still valid.

Archive | Upgrade to Premium | Sponsor

But here’s where I really messed up.

If I was responsible for running the meeting, then I needed to chair it.

When it got to 28mins in and the stakeholders showed no time in stopping talking, I knew my lunchtime was screwed.

The supplier hadn’t even had an opportunity to ask their questions yet.

The knock on effect of the meeting running over would be I’d have to push back a 1-1 with a Procurement Manager in my team,

and then I’d have no time for a break at lunch*

_{*Corporate Colin hates that I take lunch breaks so I mainly record my lunchtime walks on strava to spite him.}

All because my stakeholders had no self awareness or meeting etiquette.

More accurately… all because I’d done precisely nothing to control the meeting.

ICYMI

My best Linkedin post of the week:

• Strategies to negotiate without leverage

I teach this stuff (enrolment opens again soon…check the bottom of this page).

I coach it with my team.

But it’s so easy to fall into the trap of subservience when you’re in Procurement.

And there’s nothing more frustrating to me than badly run meetings.

Particularly ones we should be in control of.

Right…I’ll relax now…back to the pool (and to brush my teeth).

Tom

When you're ready, here are 2 more ways I can help:​ 👇🏽