Everything in the meeting could have been in an e-mail

[Puget]

Had one of these today but in a good way -- tenure meeting (my first since I'm newly tenured myself) for a colleague where it could have just been an email of all of us saying "hell yeah". But per the handbook, we met and duly voted.

[lightning]

I attended another meeting yesterday, where everything was just a series of announcements that could have easily been communicated via email.

So, one announcement sparked some lively and very relevant interactive discussion. The administrator that called the meeting cut off the discussion, because we were running out of time and the admincritter wanted to get through all of their announcements that could have easily been communicated via email.

This is a damning example of meetings at my university. Meetings, here, are a place for administrators to talk to a captive audience. It's like a concert to them, and they think they are the rock stars.

[fizzycist]

If you feel obligated to go, show up late, take frequent breaks, and interrupt the most boring parts with "thought-provoking" questions and comments. They gotta feel some pain too ;)

[Vkw10]

Had our fourth "planning committee" meeting today for an event that a VP and her assistant are doing all the planning for. I object to spending an hour being briefed on decisions made, under the guise of involving faculty. Just send me a bullet list.

[spork]

[...]
This is a damning example of meetings at my university. Meetings, here, are a place for administrators to talk to a captive audience. It's like a concert to them, and they think they are the rock stars.

It demonstrates the absurd level of waste and inefficiency in higher education. Whenever we are forced to attend meetings like this, it's time we can't use to do what we are trained, hired, and paid to do. Just let us do our jobs.

[kaysixteen]

So if you blow off the VP's presentation, what exactly would be the negative consequences for you?

[apl68]

I've been serving for several months now on our church's pastoral search team.  Lots of long meetings there, and a lot of work outside the meeting.  It's somewhat analogous to a tenure-track position search, where your institution is counting on the searchers to take their time and do their due diligence to find the best possible fit.  So the time and effort are justified.  It does get a little frustrating now and then when we keep having to repeat things because some members don't seem to be listening.

We do have other committees at church that give the impression of existing and meeting mainly so we can say that they exist and meet.  So many churches have gotten loaded down with massive amounts of busywork that have little to do with fulfilling the church's actual mission.  It's not just an academia problem.  It seems to be one of those general tendencies of human organizations.

[pgher]

I've been serving for several months now on our church's pastoral search team.  Lots of long meetings there, and a lot of work outside the meeting.  It's somewhat analogous to a tenure-track position search, where your institution is counting on the searchers to take their time and do their due diligence to find the best possible fit.  So the time and effort are justified.  It does get a little frustrating now and then when we keep having to repeat things because some members don't seem to be listening.

We do have other committees at church that give the impression of existing and meeting mainly so we can say that they exist and meet.  So many churches have gotten loaded down with massive amounts of busywork that have little to do with fulfilling the church's actual mission.  It's not just an academia problem.  It seems to be one of those general tendencies of human organizations.

I'm a church officer and a department chair. The similarities are astounding. Both academia and churches are basically volunteer organizations.

[lightning]

I've been serving for several months now on our church's pastoral search team.  Lots of long meetings there, and a lot of work outside the meeting.  It's somewhat analogous to a tenure-track position search, where your institution is counting on the searchers to take their time and do their due diligence to find the best possible fit.  So the time and effort are justified.  It does get a little frustrating now and then when we keep having to repeat things because some members don't seem to be listening.

We do have other committees at church that give the impression of existing and meeting mainly so we can say that they exist and meet.  So many churches have gotten loaded down with massive amounts of busywork that have little to do with fulfilling the church's actual mission.  It's not just an academia problem.  It seems to be one of those general tendencies of human organizations.

I'm a church officer and a department chair. The similarities are astounding. Both academia and churches are basically volunteer organizations.

and academic professional societies

[ciao_yall]

I'm in a 2-hour Zoom committee meeting where people are talking about establishing goals for next year and how these fit with other committees' goals.

Except every committee, including this one, has really vague goals.

The result is that we are rewording their goals so ours are also vague but slightly different.

[kaysixteen]

apl, does your congregation have a formally-written statement of procedures and policies associated with the searching for and retaining of, a new pastor?

[apl68]

apl, does your congregation have a formally-written statement of procedures and policies associated with the searching for and retaining of, a new pastor?

Not in detail, but we went through a pretty thorough procedure of electing a search team--I was kind of surprised to find myself selected for it--and polling church members on what they wanted to see in a new pastor.  We've got strong congregational support and buy-in for what we're doing.  The challenge is finding a good candidate.  We're still looking.

[Volhiker78]

Meeting colleagues and making friends is fine as far as it goes, but many people, introverts and otherwise, are deeply uncomfortable participating in such 'team-building' activities, esp when there is an overtly physical component to them.  No adult should be forced to do so.

At a previous large company I worked at, service days were very popular and widely publicized.  Most service projects had a physical and team building component.  They were very popular for younger employees but they started when I was in my late 40's. I always asked to be excused and was told that I had to work on those days.  Fine for me as I liked my job and it was quieter those days. 

I have no idea whether this was ever used against me in performance reviews. I doubt it as I already had a reputation of being a quiet introvert who didn't speak much in public meetings.