The Meeting as a Mirror - A conversation with Dr Jean Cooper
In this episode I chat to Dr Jean Cooper, a psychologist, adventurer, and long-time student of the unseen forces that influence people, teams, and organisations.
Jean’s work is rooted in the pioneering legacy of the Tavistock Institute, where he learned to turn the magnifying glass inward, using himself as an instrument to detect, contain, and work with the often-unbearable dynamics playing out below the surface. He believes that only by acknowledging our own blind spots can we begin to tune into what’s really happening in the room.
It’s a conversation about what meetings reveal, what we’re really defending against, and how we might begin to engage more honestly, with our work, and with each other.
To learn more about Jean or to get his contact details, go here - https://tiltinternational.com/
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43:28
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43:28
Why Makers Hate Meetings and Managers Can’t Live Without Them
In most companies, you can broadly categorise people into those who create (makers) and those who coordinate (managers). While this isn’t a perfect divide, most people in an organisation often lean more toward one side than the other, in how they structure their work. Some roles blend both, but understanding these two modes of work can still help us design better, more thoughtful meetings, and even get rid of some altogether.
The friction between makers and managers isn’t about who works harder, it’s about how differently we work. Makers need space for focus; managers need space for coordination. When we impose one schedule on everyone, we set ourselves up for frustration, inefficiency, and missed potential.
Makers and managers live in different worlds. One needs deep focus, the other thrives on constant coordination, and too often, the meeting calendar forgets that. The result? Wasted time, broken flow, and burned-out teams. It doesn’t have to be this way. When we recognise these different modes of work and start designing our days, and our meetings, with intention, we create space for both creative focus and smart collaboration. Maybe it’s time we stopped asking everyone to work the same way, and instead asked: what kind of work are we trying to protect?
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6:43
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6:43
Who's Doing What to Minimise Meetings?
Have you ever sat in a meeting and thought, "I could be folding laundry, watching paint dry, or literally staring at a wall, and it would be a more productive use of my time?"
Yeah, me too. And I’ve spoken to enough people to know that we are not alone.
Since the pandemic, it feels like meetings have multiplied like rabbits in a carrot patch, and our survival as productive humans is at stake!
Dramatic, I know, but you feel me.
Fear not, my meeting-weary friends! There may be a revolution brewing.
I went in search for brave souls and companies who are fighting back, and I've gathered intel from the front lines. Alright ‘Front lines’ may be a bit of an exaggeration. It was just me and my trusty laptop, digging around the interwebs.
I was interested to know if anyone was doing anything interesting? If they were, then what, and more importantly, how were they minimising meetings, and winning back some productivity time?
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5:30
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5:30
One Way To Tell If I Really Need Another Meeting?
Do I really need another another meeting? Real deliverables don't happen in a meeting, and yet we're spending 60% of our time in meetings.
In this episode Barrie takes a look at how using Synchronous v Asynchronous as a filter, can help to minimise the amount of time we spend in meetings.
Let's reclaim our time! Let's use meetings only when they truly matter. We can be more efficient, more productive, and maybe, just maybe, we can win some time back.
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6:22
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6:22
Who's Doing What to Minimise Meetings?
I went in search for brave souls and companies who are implementing interesting things to minimise meetings, and win back some productivity time. Here's what I found...
Once seen as a powerful tool for collaboration, idea creation and decision-making, ‘the meeting’ has evolved into something many people dread. Now is the time to re-imagine ‘the meeting’ to unlock its true potential once again.
South Africa