Mandatory surprises

[msmemory_archive]

My employers have no sense of timing.

At 12:45 we got a memo announcing some staff resignations, which I already knew about because I have good spies.

At 1:10 we got a memo calling us all to a surprise mandatory meeting. Now if I didn't know about the reason for the meeting, I would be drawing some very fatalistic conclusions.

They meant the meeting to be a surprise but I know about it (refreshments will be paid for by petty cash), C knows about it (went to store for same), G knows about it (sent the memo), J and GL know about it (did the A/V setup). Presumably somebody in Buildings knows about it (chair setup). Some surprise. I think maybe 25% of the company hadn't heard before lunchtime.

Comments

[chained2u2.livejournal.com]

Amusing. It's the same at our place.
dj

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

So what's the alternative, here (he asks as an honest question, rather than the flame it seems to be)? Have a secret cadre of managers pay for soda out of their pocket, and then get reimbursed, or should they have a "smokescreen" excuse for the meeting?

Or is the whole idea of a secret surprise meeting dumb?

I've never been to a surprise meeting that was really a surprise; sometimes the content blindsided me, but that was only because I was poo-pooing the theories of more experienced co-workers. I've come to accept that the gradual spread of knowledge, followed by the official pronouncement, is actually helpful; it lets people get over their "What!? No way!" outside the meeting, and then get The Facts in the meeting. It seems similar to the "leak - deny - press conference" pattern of recent administrations.

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

Whether or not surprise meetings make sense (I've never cared for them, which is not proof either way)...

The real problem is that most employees don't realize they ought to have a sense of discretion, and that they should keep their employers secrets - even (especially?) the small ones.

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

In defense of having a network (nicer than "spies"): if I waited for HR to tell me when people are leaving the company, I'd have a real problem getting library materials returned.

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

I am not a big fan, personally, of compounding one problem with another. One problem is HR not making library materials part of the checklist of employee departure. The other is people not keeping appropriate confidences.

Or so I think... maybe I'm wrong?

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

They didn't want to announce the meeting, a celebration of a corporate milestone, in advance, because that would seem like presuming that we would have achieved it.

I think the summoning email should have read "Join us in celebration of [milestone] in the training room at 2:15" rather than "Mandatory meeting at 2:15" AND they should have deferred the email about one of the VPs resigning til after the meeting.