Could this meeting be an email?

I was reading about tech company, Zapier, cancelling all meetings for a week, in favour of Getting Stuff Done. What a terrible waste of time meetings must be if they're not about getting stuff done!

Yet so many people think having a meeting is the best way to get stuff done. But a meeting can often be the worst way to get anything done or come to a decision. In fact, poor meeting culture can lead to people leaving their jobs due to stress.

Why are monthly hour-long team meetings often the default? Did anyone stand back and think whether this was the optimum length and frequency?

Because zoom stuck us to our seats, I adjusted my calendar settings to make 45 minutes my default meeting length else I just wasn't getting any time off in between. In a former job we changed from monthly in person team meetings to six weekly alternating between in person and by conference call. People were worried we wouldn't be meeting often enough but I'm not sure we really noticed any difference. And the time and travel saving truly added up!

Talking of better ways to spend your precious time, I loved this blog post by Rosie Oldham about charity anniversaries. I wonder how many meetings upon meetings upon meetings have been spent debating how to mark charity anniversaries.

Interesting and useful links 🖇️

Tools for co-leadership (ie power sharing)

Getting On Board published a downloadable guide to diversifying your board

Guide to non-discriminatory language: Words and deeds matter

Learning points 🎓

I enjoyed a discussion with some old friends and colleagues from #NFPTweetup last night about what's going on at Twitter and what that means for social media. Many of us feel a sense of loss at the community we've built up there and are worried it will disappear. I feel that my community isn't just on Twitter any more, some of it is on other platforms, some of it is here in this newsletter, and some of it was never on Twitter anyway. The key lesson Twitter taught me about seeking out people from all over the world to connect with and learn from I will always carry with me.

So, I have to confess, I'm quite relaxed if Twitter goes down the pan. Best place for it, in many ways.

Day of the Week 📆

Native American Heritage Day AKA Black Friday

What am I reading? 📚

I'm reading Orhan Pamuk's Nobel prize-winning The Museum of Innocence at the moment. It's another world ❤️

What am I watching? 👀

“Descendant” is a Netflix documentary following the story of the descendants of the survivors of the Clotilda, the last ship bringing enslaved people from Benin to Alabama in 1860, where they founded Africatown. I really recommend it.

What am I listening to? 👂

I've been reading about and listening to Charanjit Singh this week. This incredible track is from 1982.

Joy-giving things 😍

I went out for a walk near our house and saw these two sitting in the sunshine looking out at the future.

Have a great weekend

Lucy

If it’s your first time reading this newsletter, find out more about me here.

I write this newsletter because I believe in sharing ideas that help us work towards a truly equal world, particularly in the workplace.

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ChangeOut is created by Lucy Caldicott. You can find more about my work at ChangeOut.org. If you’re looking to have a chat about culture, leadership, purpose, equity, or a facilitated team discussion about any of those things, get in touch. You can also find me on Bluesky, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

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