How to support a colleague who finds meetings extremely tiring? The 2019 Stack Overflow Developer Survey Results Are InHow can I encourage our team to have shorter stand-up meetings?Manager who insists on too many calls/meetingsHow can I get out of meetings?How do you keep people on track/topic during meetings?How can I make meetings more interesting?How to deal with a colleague being rude to the customer during meetings?How to prevent non-technical and disruptive persons from coming to our technical meetings?How to deal with a colleague who consistently schedules meetings that should be emails?How to handle a boss who constantly stares with an angry face in meetings?Fellow Scrum team member appears disengaged from stand ups, scrum master hasn't addressed it - what can/should I do?
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How to support a colleague who finds meetings extremely tiring?
The 2019 Stack Overflow Developer Survey Results Are InHow can I encourage our team to have shorter stand-up meetings?Manager who insists on too many calls/meetingsHow can I get out of meetings?How do you keep people on track/topic during meetings?How can I make meetings more interesting?How to deal with a colleague being rude to the customer during meetings?How to prevent non-technical and disruptive persons from coming to our technical meetings?How to deal with a colleague who consistently schedules meetings that should be emails?How to handle a boss who constantly stares with an angry face in meetings?Fellow Scrum team member appears disengaged from stand ups, scrum master hasn't addressed it - what can/should I do?
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In our software development team we have a colleague who is both a great engineer with a sense of responsibility and a great person. She is usually very involved in discussions during our meetings, but it is clear that meetings in general, and those with more people specifically, are extremely tiring for her — much more than for the rest of the team. After most meetings, especially those that involve more than 2-3 other people, she is visibly tired and she needs a break to recover. Thankfully, we do have a relax room in our office.
So far we had some rearrangements to have a less noisy environment around her. We also collected several short meetings into a single longer one, so now we usually do our organization/planning as a single block of 2-4 hours each week, as opposed to having three-four shorter meetings on different days. This seems to be better for her, both in terms of productivity (which is also a sentiment shared by the rest of the team, so we'll likely stay with this setup) and in her subjective opinion. At the same the one big meeting is even more taxing on her.
Can we do better? Is there anything we can do to make meetings more bearable, help her recover after them or maybe make further changes to our work environment that could help her?
meetings accommodation
New contributor
|
show 10 more comments
In our software development team we have a colleague who is both a great engineer with a sense of responsibility and a great person. She is usually very involved in discussions during our meetings, but it is clear that meetings in general, and those with more people specifically, are extremely tiring for her — much more than for the rest of the team. After most meetings, especially those that involve more than 2-3 other people, she is visibly tired and she needs a break to recover. Thankfully, we do have a relax room in our office.
So far we had some rearrangements to have a less noisy environment around her. We also collected several short meetings into a single longer one, so now we usually do our organization/planning as a single block of 2-4 hours each week, as opposed to having three-four shorter meetings on different days. This seems to be better for her, both in terms of productivity (which is also a sentiment shared by the rest of the team, so we'll likely stay with this setup) and in her subjective opinion. At the same the one big meeting is even more taxing on her.
Can we do better? Is there anything we can do to make meetings more bearable, help her recover after them or maybe make further changes to our work environment that could help her?
meetings accommodation
New contributor
2
In your second paragraph, I'm confused by this: "This seems to be better for her" versus this: "the one big meeting is even more taxing on her"
– dwizum
11 hours ago
2
@dwizum, she says she prefers having one very tiring meeting a week than several somewhat less tiring each day. We have a team of 6 software developers, half of them part-timers, with a very flat and scrum-ish structure — so the way we organize our work, including meetings, is mostly our collective decision.
– user102582
11 hours ago
2
@JoeStrazzere It's not a physical/mental condition, but likely just a result of an introverted personality type. It's well known that introverts tend to need a recharge period after socializing. Link
– Steve-o169
10 hours ago
1
@Steve-o169 as an introvert, that's absolutely correct. I would also suggest a good book called The Introvert Advantage. It's very helpful.
– Chris E
9 hours ago
3
Did you ask her about it?
– Mikey
6 hours ago
|
show 10 more comments
In our software development team we have a colleague who is both a great engineer with a sense of responsibility and a great person. She is usually very involved in discussions during our meetings, but it is clear that meetings in general, and those with more people specifically, are extremely tiring for her — much more than for the rest of the team. After most meetings, especially those that involve more than 2-3 other people, she is visibly tired and she needs a break to recover. Thankfully, we do have a relax room in our office.
So far we had some rearrangements to have a less noisy environment around her. We also collected several short meetings into a single longer one, so now we usually do our organization/planning as a single block of 2-4 hours each week, as opposed to having three-four shorter meetings on different days. This seems to be better for her, both in terms of productivity (which is also a sentiment shared by the rest of the team, so we'll likely stay with this setup) and in her subjective opinion. At the same the one big meeting is even more taxing on her.
Can we do better? Is there anything we can do to make meetings more bearable, help her recover after them or maybe make further changes to our work environment that could help her?
meetings accommodation
New contributor
In our software development team we have a colleague who is both a great engineer with a sense of responsibility and a great person. She is usually very involved in discussions during our meetings, but it is clear that meetings in general, and those with more people specifically, are extremely tiring for her — much more than for the rest of the team. After most meetings, especially those that involve more than 2-3 other people, she is visibly tired and she needs a break to recover. Thankfully, we do have a relax room in our office.
So far we had some rearrangements to have a less noisy environment around her. We also collected several short meetings into a single longer one, so now we usually do our organization/planning as a single block of 2-4 hours each week, as opposed to having three-four shorter meetings on different days. This seems to be better for her, both in terms of productivity (which is also a sentiment shared by the rest of the team, so we'll likely stay with this setup) and in her subjective opinion. At the same the one big meeting is even more taxing on her.
Can we do better? Is there anything we can do to make meetings more bearable, help her recover after them or maybe make further changes to our work environment that could help her?
meetings accommodation
meetings accommodation
New contributor
New contributor
New contributor
asked 11 hours ago
user102582user102582
853
853
New contributor
New contributor
2
In your second paragraph, I'm confused by this: "This seems to be better for her" versus this: "the one big meeting is even more taxing on her"
– dwizum
11 hours ago
2
@dwizum, she says she prefers having one very tiring meeting a week than several somewhat less tiring each day. We have a team of 6 software developers, half of them part-timers, with a very flat and scrum-ish structure — so the way we organize our work, including meetings, is mostly our collective decision.
– user102582
11 hours ago
2
@JoeStrazzere It's not a physical/mental condition, but likely just a result of an introverted personality type. It's well known that introverts tend to need a recharge period after socializing. Link
– Steve-o169
10 hours ago
1
@Steve-o169 as an introvert, that's absolutely correct. I would also suggest a good book called The Introvert Advantage. It's very helpful.
– Chris E
9 hours ago
3
Did you ask her about it?
– Mikey
6 hours ago
|
show 10 more comments
2
In your second paragraph, I'm confused by this: "This seems to be better for her" versus this: "the one big meeting is even more taxing on her"
– dwizum
11 hours ago
2
@dwizum, she says she prefers having one very tiring meeting a week than several somewhat less tiring each day. We have a team of 6 software developers, half of them part-timers, with a very flat and scrum-ish structure — so the way we organize our work, including meetings, is mostly our collective decision.
– user102582
11 hours ago
2
@JoeStrazzere It's not a physical/mental condition, but likely just a result of an introverted personality type. It's well known that introverts tend to need a recharge period after socializing. Link
– Steve-o169
10 hours ago
1
@Steve-o169 as an introvert, that's absolutely correct. I would also suggest a good book called The Introvert Advantage. It's very helpful.
– Chris E
9 hours ago
3
Did you ask her about it?
– Mikey
6 hours ago
2
2
In your second paragraph, I'm confused by this: "This seems to be better for her" versus this: "the one big meeting is even more taxing on her"
– dwizum
11 hours ago
In your second paragraph, I'm confused by this: "This seems to be better for her" versus this: "the one big meeting is even more taxing on her"
– dwizum
11 hours ago
2
2
@dwizum, she says she prefers having one very tiring meeting a week than several somewhat less tiring each day. We have a team of 6 software developers, half of them part-timers, with a very flat and scrum-ish structure — so the way we organize our work, including meetings, is mostly our collective decision.
– user102582
11 hours ago
@dwizum, she says she prefers having one very tiring meeting a week than several somewhat less tiring each day. We have a team of 6 software developers, half of them part-timers, with a very flat and scrum-ish structure — so the way we organize our work, including meetings, is mostly our collective decision.
– user102582
11 hours ago
2
2
@JoeStrazzere It's not a physical/mental condition, but likely just a result of an introverted personality type. It's well known that introverts tend to need a recharge period after socializing. Link
– Steve-o169
10 hours ago
@JoeStrazzere It's not a physical/mental condition, but likely just a result of an introverted personality type. It's well known that introverts tend to need a recharge period after socializing. Link
– Steve-o169
10 hours ago
1
1
@Steve-o169 as an introvert, that's absolutely correct. I would also suggest a good book called The Introvert Advantage. It's very helpful.
– Chris E
9 hours ago
@Steve-o169 as an introvert, that's absolutely correct. I would also suggest a good book called The Introvert Advantage. It's very helpful.
– Chris E
9 hours ago
3
3
Did you ask her about it?
– Mikey
6 hours ago
Did you ask her about it?
– Mikey
6 hours ago
|
show 10 more comments
4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
2-4
A four hour meeting is unacceptable for any human. Forget about her specific use case. In the broadest sense, meetings do not help with productivity and serve more as inhibitors rather than amplifiers.
Some suggestions:
- Keep meetings short.
- Keep them focused
- When a meeting starts, establish an end time and stick to it
- Establish a goal for the meeting (None of this: "Well, let's talk about...")
- Only include the parties that are absolutely needed
- Take breaks during very long meetings. (after 30-45 minutes)
- If you sense things are going in circles, end the meeting. There's no point in burning piles of money for all the people in the room if you're just spinning your wheels.
- Stand up during the meeting, that usually creates a sense of urgency. (not for everyone)
Most of the time with meetings, the general problem is too many people are brought along so keep the number small.
If people have their devices out in a meeting and they're just passively listening, remove them. They clearly don't belong there. Have a "no phone" rule, this might not be feasible, but I promise people will want the meeting to end sooner, rather than later.
Peopleware covers this perfectly: Most meetings are about ceremony, not about work. So start trimming that fat and remove the unnecessary people and items from the meeting.
To OP: I would ask "Does she absolutely need to be present for everything?" Is her expertise needed for every single item? If it's about keeping her in the loop, maybe then just send her the minutes or a memo of an overview of the meeting? Ask that question for every person in the room for every item. I doubt every person is needed for every item and thus, maybe it'll allow you to have smaller standup meetings surrounding particular items of concern rather than have everyone there for a sit down where at any particular point, the information being conveyed is only pertinent to half the people there.
3
I've sat in lots of meetings that could have been replaced with a quick email or slack conversation. To paraphrase Boyd K Packer: There is no meeting so great that it's as good as not having to have that meeting.
– MGOwen
47 mins ago
Another suggestion: get some decent project management software and automate this meeting out of existence. As a software developer, the meetings that wear me out the most are the ones that I know could be replaced by (for example) an auto-generated report from our bugtracker. For planning, keep your calendar in a git repository and have people submit pull requests if they want to update something. You can still have whatever discussions are necessary, but now they're logged, asynchronous, and not monopolizing anybody's time.
– bta
10 mins ago
add a comment |
Ask her, not the internet. She'll know what she wants and needs better than we will.
Don't just ask her either. Try and get the whole team to have regular talks together about what's working well for them and what isn't, listen to their suggestions and change things based on them.
2
We did and the actions I described are the outcome. And we ran out of ideas, yet the problem is still there, even if reduced in scope to mostly one day. So now I'm asking the internet for new ideas.
– user102582
11 hours ago
2
So you're suggesting another meeting to discuss what could be improved in the meeting? Seems counterproductive to the point of the question, honestly.
– Steve-o169
6 hours ago
1
@Steve-o169 it doesn't need to be a formal meeting - it could be the team going out to coffee or talking through a shared lunch, or even a group chat in Whatsapp or something. Just so long as it's regular, honest and their feedback gets listened to.
– Player One
4 hours ago
1
I would suggest if it's a face to face meeting, keep the group small to avoid overwhelming her if my theory is correct and she is an introvert. The group chat is a good alternative and would work well, IMO.
– Steve-o169
2 hours ago
add a comment |
As I commented, this extreme tiredness is likely not caused by the meeting or the length of the meeting, but more a result of socializing with a large number of people at one time. In my unprofessional but first-hand experience, your co-worker seems to be suffering from what some call an "introvert hangover". That is, she simply needs a period of time to recharge after interacting with a group of people. I've had very similar experiences where I'll be having a great time at a party and at some point, I'll just crash and need to find a quiet place to recharge.
As far as solving your issue, perhaps a good idea would be to schedule the meeting for a time period directly before a lunch break. This way, your co-worker can leave the premises, have an hour or so to recharge, and rebuild her stamina for the remainder of the day. Even better, schedule the meeting as the last item on the agenda for a given day. That way, she has the opportunity to remain active and engaged all day long and can leave the office afterwards to recover at home.
Another potential solution (assuming she doesn't need to contribute), would be video conferencing or even just recording the meeting for her to view at another time. If she needs to contribute, perhaps something like a Google Doc could be used to keep notes of the meeting and she can contribute as necessary by updating the document.
In other words, the best way to avoid her "hangover" would be to remove her from the bulk of the meeting or schedule it at such a time with a break built-in immediately afterwards.
New contributor
add a comment |
How about putting her on remote video conferencing when in meeting?
Aren't they in the same office? VC in same office would be too much. :)
– Sourav Ghosh
10 hours ago
@SouravGhosh i think if person get tired in the room full of people, check how she fairs while removing from her own office / cubicle. These days you can connect from anywhere, why not the office 10 steps from the boardroom? :)
– Strader
10 hours ago
add a comment |
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4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
4 Answers
4
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
2-4
A four hour meeting is unacceptable for any human. Forget about her specific use case. In the broadest sense, meetings do not help with productivity and serve more as inhibitors rather than amplifiers.
Some suggestions:
- Keep meetings short.
- Keep them focused
- When a meeting starts, establish an end time and stick to it
- Establish a goal for the meeting (None of this: "Well, let's talk about...")
- Only include the parties that are absolutely needed
- Take breaks during very long meetings. (after 30-45 minutes)
- If you sense things are going in circles, end the meeting. There's no point in burning piles of money for all the people in the room if you're just spinning your wheels.
- Stand up during the meeting, that usually creates a sense of urgency. (not for everyone)
Most of the time with meetings, the general problem is too many people are brought along so keep the number small.
If people have their devices out in a meeting and they're just passively listening, remove them. They clearly don't belong there. Have a "no phone" rule, this might not be feasible, but I promise people will want the meeting to end sooner, rather than later.
Peopleware covers this perfectly: Most meetings are about ceremony, not about work. So start trimming that fat and remove the unnecessary people and items from the meeting.
To OP: I would ask "Does she absolutely need to be present for everything?" Is her expertise needed for every single item? If it's about keeping her in the loop, maybe then just send her the minutes or a memo of an overview of the meeting? Ask that question for every person in the room for every item. I doubt every person is needed for every item and thus, maybe it'll allow you to have smaller standup meetings surrounding particular items of concern rather than have everyone there for a sit down where at any particular point, the information being conveyed is only pertinent to half the people there.
3
I've sat in lots of meetings that could have been replaced with a quick email or slack conversation. To paraphrase Boyd K Packer: There is no meeting so great that it's as good as not having to have that meeting.
– MGOwen
47 mins ago
Another suggestion: get some decent project management software and automate this meeting out of existence. As a software developer, the meetings that wear me out the most are the ones that I know could be replaced by (for example) an auto-generated report from our bugtracker. For planning, keep your calendar in a git repository and have people submit pull requests if they want to update something. You can still have whatever discussions are necessary, but now they're logged, asynchronous, and not monopolizing anybody's time.
– bta
10 mins ago
add a comment |
2-4
A four hour meeting is unacceptable for any human. Forget about her specific use case. In the broadest sense, meetings do not help with productivity and serve more as inhibitors rather than amplifiers.
Some suggestions:
- Keep meetings short.
- Keep them focused
- When a meeting starts, establish an end time and stick to it
- Establish a goal for the meeting (None of this: "Well, let's talk about...")
- Only include the parties that are absolutely needed
- Take breaks during very long meetings. (after 30-45 minutes)
- If you sense things are going in circles, end the meeting. There's no point in burning piles of money for all the people in the room if you're just spinning your wheels.
- Stand up during the meeting, that usually creates a sense of urgency. (not for everyone)
Most of the time with meetings, the general problem is too many people are brought along so keep the number small.
If people have their devices out in a meeting and they're just passively listening, remove them. They clearly don't belong there. Have a "no phone" rule, this might not be feasible, but I promise people will want the meeting to end sooner, rather than later.
Peopleware covers this perfectly: Most meetings are about ceremony, not about work. So start trimming that fat and remove the unnecessary people and items from the meeting.
To OP: I would ask "Does she absolutely need to be present for everything?" Is her expertise needed for every single item? If it's about keeping her in the loop, maybe then just send her the minutes or a memo of an overview of the meeting? Ask that question for every person in the room for every item. I doubt every person is needed for every item and thus, maybe it'll allow you to have smaller standup meetings surrounding particular items of concern rather than have everyone there for a sit down where at any particular point, the information being conveyed is only pertinent to half the people there.
3
I've sat in lots of meetings that could have been replaced with a quick email or slack conversation. To paraphrase Boyd K Packer: There is no meeting so great that it's as good as not having to have that meeting.
– MGOwen
47 mins ago
Another suggestion: get some decent project management software and automate this meeting out of existence. As a software developer, the meetings that wear me out the most are the ones that I know could be replaced by (for example) an auto-generated report from our bugtracker. For planning, keep your calendar in a git repository and have people submit pull requests if they want to update something. You can still have whatever discussions are necessary, but now they're logged, asynchronous, and not monopolizing anybody's time.
– bta
10 mins ago
add a comment |
2-4
A four hour meeting is unacceptable for any human. Forget about her specific use case. In the broadest sense, meetings do not help with productivity and serve more as inhibitors rather than amplifiers.
Some suggestions:
- Keep meetings short.
- Keep them focused
- When a meeting starts, establish an end time and stick to it
- Establish a goal for the meeting (None of this: "Well, let's talk about...")
- Only include the parties that are absolutely needed
- Take breaks during very long meetings. (after 30-45 minutes)
- If you sense things are going in circles, end the meeting. There's no point in burning piles of money for all the people in the room if you're just spinning your wheels.
- Stand up during the meeting, that usually creates a sense of urgency. (not for everyone)
Most of the time with meetings, the general problem is too many people are brought along so keep the number small.
If people have their devices out in a meeting and they're just passively listening, remove them. They clearly don't belong there. Have a "no phone" rule, this might not be feasible, but I promise people will want the meeting to end sooner, rather than later.
Peopleware covers this perfectly: Most meetings are about ceremony, not about work. So start trimming that fat and remove the unnecessary people and items from the meeting.
To OP: I would ask "Does she absolutely need to be present for everything?" Is her expertise needed for every single item? If it's about keeping her in the loop, maybe then just send her the minutes or a memo of an overview of the meeting? Ask that question for every person in the room for every item. I doubt every person is needed for every item and thus, maybe it'll allow you to have smaller standup meetings surrounding particular items of concern rather than have everyone there for a sit down where at any particular point, the information being conveyed is only pertinent to half the people there.
2-4
A four hour meeting is unacceptable for any human. Forget about her specific use case. In the broadest sense, meetings do not help with productivity and serve more as inhibitors rather than amplifiers.
Some suggestions:
- Keep meetings short.
- Keep them focused
- When a meeting starts, establish an end time and stick to it
- Establish a goal for the meeting (None of this: "Well, let's talk about...")
- Only include the parties that are absolutely needed
- Take breaks during very long meetings. (after 30-45 minutes)
- If you sense things are going in circles, end the meeting. There's no point in burning piles of money for all the people in the room if you're just spinning your wheels.
- Stand up during the meeting, that usually creates a sense of urgency. (not for everyone)
Most of the time with meetings, the general problem is too many people are brought along so keep the number small.
If people have their devices out in a meeting and they're just passively listening, remove them. They clearly don't belong there. Have a "no phone" rule, this might not be feasible, but I promise people will want the meeting to end sooner, rather than later.
Peopleware covers this perfectly: Most meetings are about ceremony, not about work. So start trimming that fat and remove the unnecessary people and items from the meeting.
To OP: I would ask "Does she absolutely need to be present for everything?" Is her expertise needed for every single item? If it's about keeping her in the loop, maybe then just send her the minutes or a memo of an overview of the meeting? Ask that question for every person in the room for every item. I doubt every person is needed for every item and thus, maybe it'll allow you to have smaller standup meetings surrounding particular items of concern rather than have everyone there for a sit down where at any particular point, the information being conveyed is only pertinent to half the people there.
edited 6 hours ago
answered 8 hours ago
ShinEmperorShinEmperor
3,406519
3,406519
3
I've sat in lots of meetings that could have been replaced with a quick email or slack conversation. To paraphrase Boyd K Packer: There is no meeting so great that it's as good as not having to have that meeting.
– MGOwen
47 mins ago
Another suggestion: get some decent project management software and automate this meeting out of existence. As a software developer, the meetings that wear me out the most are the ones that I know could be replaced by (for example) an auto-generated report from our bugtracker. For planning, keep your calendar in a git repository and have people submit pull requests if they want to update something. You can still have whatever discussions are necessary, but now they're logged, asynchronous, and not monopolizing anybody's time.
– bta
10 mins ago
add a comment |
3
I've sat in lots of meetings that could have been replaced with a quick email or slack conversation. To paraphrase Boyd K Packer: There is no meeting so great that it's as good as not having to have that meeting.
– MGOwen
47 mins ago
Another suggestion: get some decent project management software and automate this meeting out of existence. As a software developer, the meetings that wear me out the most are the ones that I know could be replaced by (for example) an auto-generated report from our bugtracker. For planning, keep your calendar in a git repository and have people submit pull requests if they want to update something. You can still have whatever discussions are necessary, but now they're logged, asynchronous, and not monopolizing anybody's time.
– bta
10 mins ago
3
3
I've sat in lots of meetings that could have been replaced with a quick email or slack conversation. To paraphrase Boyd K Packer: There is no meeting so great that it's as good as not having to have that meeting.
– MGOwen
47 mins ago
I've sat in lots of meetings that could have been replaced with a quick email or slack conversation. To paraphrase Boyd K Packer: There is no meeting so great that it's as good as not having to have that meeting.
– MGOwen
47 mins ago
Another suggestion: get some decent project management software and automate this meeting out of existence. As a software developer, the meetings that wear me out the most are the ones that I know could be replaced by (for example) an auto-generated report from our bugtracker. For planning, keep your calendar in a git repository and have people submit pull requests if they want to update something. You can still have whatever discussions are necessary, but now they're logged, asynchronous, and not monopolizing anybody's time.
– bta
10 mins ago
Another suggestion: get some decent project management software and automate this meeting out of existence. As a software developer, the meetings that wear me out the most are the ones that I know could be replaced by (for example) an auto-generated report from our bugtracker. For planning, keep your calendar in a git repository and have people submit pull requests if they want to update something. You can still have whatever discussions are necessary, but now they're logged, asynchronous, and not monopolizing anybody's time.
– bta
10 mins ago
add a comment |
Ask her, not the internet. She'll know what she wants and needs better than we will.
Don't just ask her either. Try and get the whole team to have regular talks together about what's working well for them and what isn't, listen to their suggestions and change things based on them.
2
We did and the actions I described are the outcome. And we ran out of ideas, yet the problem is still there, even if reduced in scope to mostly one day. So now I'm asking the internet for new ideas.
– user102582
11 hours ago
2
So you're suggesting another meeting to discuss what could be improved in the meeting? Seems counterproductive to the point of the question, honestly.
– Steve-o169
6 hours ago
1
@Steve-o169 it doesn't need to be a formal meeting - it could be the team going out to coffee or talking through a shared lunch, or even a group chat in Whatsapp or something. Just so long as it's regular, honest and their feedback gets listened to.
– Player One
4 hours ago
1
I would suggest if it's a face to face meeting, keep the group small to avoid overwhelming her if my theory is correct and she is an introvert. The group chat is a good alternative and would work well, IMO.
– Steve-o169
2 hours ago
add a comment |
Ask her, not the internet. She'll know what she wants and needs better than we will.
Don't just ask her either. Try and get the whole team to have regular talks together about what's working well for them and what isn't, listen to their suggestions and change things based on them.
2
We did and the actions I described are the outcome. And we ran out of ideas, yet the problem is still there, even if reduced in scope to mostly one day. So now I'm asking the internet for new ideas.
– user102582
11 hours ago
2
So you're suggesting another meeting to discuss what could be improved in the meeting? Seems counterproductive to the point of the question, honestly.
– Steve-o169
6 hours ago
1
@Steve-o169 it doesn't need to be a formal meeting - it could be the team going out to coffee or talking through a shared lunch, or even a group chat in Whatsapp or something. Just so long as it's regular, honest and their feedback gets listened to.
– Player One
4 hours ago
1
I would suggest if it's a face to face meeting, keep the group small to avoid overwhelming her if my theory is correct and she is an introvert. The group chat is a good alternative and would work well, IMO.
– Steve-o169
2 hours ago
add a comment |
Ask her, not the internet. She'll know what she wants and needs better than we will.
Don't just ask her either. Try and get the whole team to have regular talks together about what's working well for them and what isn't, listen to their suggestions and change things based on them.
Ask her, not the internet. She'll know what she wants and needs better than we will.
Don't just ask her either. Try and get the whole team to have regular talks together about what's working well for them and what isn't, listen to their suggestions and change things based on them.
edited 19 mins ago
answered 11 hours ago
Player OnePlayer One
66427
66427
2
We did and the actions I described are the outcome. And we ran out of ideas, yet the problem is still there, even if reduced in scope to mostly one day. So now I'm asking the internet for new ideas.
– user102582
11 hours ago
2
So you're suggesting another meeting to discuss what could be improved in the meeting? Seems counterproductive to the point of the question, honestly.
– Steve-o169
6 hours ago
1
@Steve-o169 it doesn't need to be a formal meeting - it could be the team going out to coffee or talking through a shared lunch, or even a group chat in Whatsapp or something. Just so long as it's regular, honest and their feedback gets listened to.
– Player One
4 hours ago
1
I would suggest if it's a face to face meeting, keep the group small to avoid overwhelming her if my theory is correct and she is an introvert. The group chat is a good alternative and would work well, IMO.
– Steve-o169
2 hours ago
add a comment |
2
We did and the actions I described are the outcome. And we ran out of ideas, yet the problem is still there, even if reduced in scope to mostly one day. So now I'm asking the internet for new ideas.
– user102582
11 hours ago
2
So you're suggesting another meeting to discuss what could be improved in the meeting? Seems counterproductive to the point of the question, honestly.
– Steve-o169
6 hours ago
1
@Steve-o169 it doesn't need to be a formal meeting - it could be the team going out to coffee or talking through a shared lunch, or even a group chat in Whatsapp or something. Just so long as it's regular, honest and their feedback gets listened to.
– Player One
4 hours ago
1
I would suggest if it's a face to face meeting, keep the group small to avoid overwhelming her if my theory is correct and she is an introvert. The group chat is a good alternative and would work well, IMO.
– Steve-o169
2 hours ago
2
2
We did and the actions I described are the outcome. And we ran out of ideas, yet the problem is still there, even if reduced in scope to mostly one day. So now I'm asking the internet for new ideas.
– user102582
11 hours ago
We did and the actions I described are the outcome. And we ran out of ideas, yet the problem is still there, even if reduced in scope to mostly one day. So now I'm asking the internet for new ideas.
– user102582
11 hours ago
2
2
So you're suggesting another meeting to discuss what could be improved in the meeting? Seems counterproductive to the point of the question, honestly.
– Steve-o169
6 hours ago
So you're suggesting another meeting to discuss what could be improved in the meeting? Seems counterproductive to the point of the question, honestly.
– Steve-o169
6 hours ago
1
1
@Steve-o169 it doesn't need to be a formal meeting - it could be the team going out to coffee or talking through a shared lunch, or even a group chat in Whatsapp or something. Just so long as it's regular, honest and their feedback gets listened to.
– Player One
4 hours ago
@Steve-o169 it doesn't need to be a formal meeting - it could be the team going out to coffee or talking through a shared lunch, or even a group chat in Whatsapp or something. Just so long as it's regular, honest and their feedback gets listened to.
– Player One
4 hours ago
1
1
I would suggest if it's a face to face meeting, keep the group small to avoid overwhelming her if my theory is correct and she is an introvert. The group chat is a good alternative and would work well, IMO.
– Steve-o169
2 hours ago
I would suggest if it's a face to face meeting, keep the group small to avoid overwhelming her if my theory is correct and she is an introvert. The group chat is a good alternative and would work well, IMO.
– Steve-o169
2 hours ago
add a comment |
As I commented, this extreme tiredness is likely not caused by the meeting or the length of the meeting, but more a result of socializing with a large number of people at one time. In my unprofessional but first-hand experience, your co-worker seems to be suffering from what some call an "introvert hangover". That is, she simply needs a period of time to recharge after interacting with a group of people. I've had very similar experiences where I'll be having a great time at a party and at some point, I'll just crash and need to find a quiet place to recharge.
As far as solving your issue, perhaps a good idea would be to schedule the meeting for a time period directly before a lunch break. This way, your co-worker can leave the premises, have an hour or so to recharge, and rebuild her stamina for the remainder of the day. Even better, schedule the meeting as the last item on the agenda for a given day. That way, she has the opportunity to remain active and engaged all day long and can leave the office afterwards to recover at home.
Another potential solution (assuming she doesn't need to contribute), would be video conferencing or even just recording the meeting for her to view at another time. If she needs to contribute, perhaps something like a Google Doc could be used to keep notes of the meeting and she can contribute as necessary by updating the document.
In other words, the best way to avoid her "hangover" would be to remove her from the bulk of the meeting or schedule it at such a time with a break built-in immediately afterwards.
New contributor
add a comment |
As I commented, this extreme tiredness is likely not caused by the meeting or the length of the meeting, but more a result of socializing with a large number of people at one time. In my unprofessional but first-hand experience, your co-worker seems to be suffering from what some call an "introvert hangover". That is, she simply needs a period of time to recharge after interacting with a group of people. I've had very similar experiences where I'll be having a great time at a party and at some point, I'll just crash and need to find a quiet place to recharge.
As far as solving your issue, perhaps a good idea would be to schedule the meeting for a time period directly before a lunch break. This way, your co-worker can leave the premises, have an hour or so to recharge, and rebuild her stamina for the remainder of the day. Even better, schedule the meeting as the last item on the agenda for a given day. That way, she has the opportunity to remain active and engaged all day long and can leave the office afterwards to recover at home.
Another potential solution (assuming she doesn't need to contribute), would be video conferencing or even just recording the meeting for her to view at another time. If she needs to contribute, perhaps something like a Google Doc could be used to keep notes of the meeting and she can contribute as necessary by updating the document.
In other words, the best way to avoid her "hangover" would be to remove her from the bulk of the meeting or schedule it at such a time with a break built-in immediately afterwards.
New contributor
add a comment |
As I commented, this extreme tiredness is likely not caused by the meeting or the length of the meeting, but more a result of socializing with a large number of people at one time. In my unprofessional but first-hand experience, your co-worker seems to be suffering from what some call an "introvert hangover". That is, she simply needs a period of time to recharge after interacting with a group of people. I've had very similar experiences where I'll be having a great time at a party and at some point, I'll just crash and need to find a quiet place to recharge.
As far as solving your issue, perhaps a good idea would be to schedule the meeting for a time period directly before a lunch break. This way, your co-worker can leave the premises, have an hour or so to recharge, and rebuild her stamina for the remainder of the day. Even better, schedule the meeting as the last item on the agenda for a given day. That way, she has the opportunity to remain active and engaged all day long and can leave the office afterwards to recover at home.
Another potential solution (assuming she doesn't need to contribute), would be video conferencing or even just recording the meeting for her to view at another time. If she needs to contribute, perhaps something like a Google Doc could be used to keep notes of the meeting and she can contribute as necessary by updating the document.
In other words, the best way to avoid her "hangover" would be to remove her from the bulk of the meeting or schedule it at such a time with a break built-in immediately afterwards.
New contributor
As I commented, this extreme tiredness is likely not caused by the meeting or the length of the meeting, but more a result of socializing with a large number of people at one time. In my unprofessional but first-hand experience, your co-worker seems to be suffering from what some call an "introvert hangover". That is, she simply needs a period of time to recharge after interacting with a group of people. I've had very similar experiences where I'll be having a great time at a party and at some point, I'll just crash and need to find a quiet place to recharge.
As far as solving your issue, perhaps a good idea would be to schedule the meeting for a time period directly before a lunch break. This way, your co-worker can leave the premises, have an hour or so to recharge, and rebuild her stamina for the remainder of the day. Even better, schedule the meeting as the last item on the agenda for a given day. That way, she has the opportunity to remain active and engaged all day long and can leave the office afterwards to recover at home.
Another potential solution (assuming she doesn't need to contribute), would be video conferencing or even just recording the meeting for her to view at another time. If she needs to contribute, perhaps something like a Google Doc could be used to keep notes of the meeting and she can contribute as necessary by updating the document.
In other words, the best way to avoid her "hangover" would be to remove her from the bulk of the meeting or schedule it at such a time with a break built-in immediately afterwards.
New contributor
New contributor
answered 10 hours ago
Steve-o169Steve-o169
1985
1985
New contributor
New contributor
add a comment |
add a comment |
How about putting her on remote video conferencing when in meeting?
Aren't they in the same office? VC in same office would be too much. :)
– Sourav Ghosh
10 hours ago
@SouravGhosh i think if person get tired in the room full of people, check how she fairs while removing from her own office / cubicle. These days you can connect from anywhere, why not the office 10 steps from the boardroom? :)
– Strader
10 hours ago
add a comment |
How about putting her on remote video conferencing when in meeting?
Aren't they in the same office? VC in same office would be too much. :)
– Sourav Ghosh
10 hours ago
@SouravGhosh i think if person get tired in the room full of people, check how she fairs while removing from her own office / cubicle. These days you can connect from anywhere, why not the office 10 steps from the boardroom? :)
– Strader
10 hours ago
add a comment |
How about putting her on remote video conferencing when in meeting?
How about putting her on remote video conferencing when in meeting?
answered 10 hours ago
StraderStrader
4,4151730
4,4151730
Aren't they in the same office? VC in same office would be too much. :)
– Sourav Ghosh
10 hours ago
@SouravGhosh i think if person get tired in the room full of people, check how she fairs while removing from her own office / cubicle. These days you can connect from anywhere, why not the office 10 steps from the boardroom? :)
– Strader
10 hours ago
add a comment |
Aren't they in the same office? VC in same office would be too much. :)
– Sourav Ghosh
10 hours ago
@SouravGhosh i think if person get tired in the room full of people, check how she fairs while removing from her own office / cubicle. These days you can connect from anywhere, why not the office 10 steps from the boardroom? :)
– Strader
10 hours ago
Aren't they in the same office? VC in same office would be too much. :)
– Sourav Ghosh
10 hours ago
Aren't they in the same office? VC in same office would be too much. :)
– Sourav Ghosh
10 hours ago
@SouravGhosh i think if person get tired in the room full of people, check how she fairs while removing from her own office / cubicle. These days you can connect from anywhere, why not the office 10 steps from the boardroom? :)
– Strader
10 hours ago
@SouravGhosh i think if person get tired in the room full of people, check how she fairs while removing from her own office / cubicle. These days you can connect from anywhere, why not the office 10 steps from the boardroom? :)
– Strader
10 hours ago
add a comment |
user102582 is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
user102582 is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
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2
In your second paragraph, I'm confused by this: "This seems to be better for her" versus this: "the one big meeting is even more taxing on her"
– dwizum
11 hours ago
2
@dwizum, she says she prefers having one very tiring meeting a week than several somewhat less tiring each day. We have a team of 6 software developers, half of them part-timers, with a very flat and scrum-ish structure — so the way we organize our work, including meetings, is mostly our collective decision.
– user102582
11 hours ago
2
@JoeStrazzere It's not a physical/mental condition, but likely just a result of an introverted personality type. It's well known that introverts tend to need a recharge period after socializing. Link
– Steve-o169
10 hours ago
1
@Steve-o169 as an introvert, that's absolutely correct. I would also suggest a good book called The Introvert Advantage. It's very helpful.
– Chris E
9 hours ago
3
Did you ask her about it?
– Mikey
6 hours ago