October Fast Company Article

Can We Talk? Put Another Log on the Fire by Cathy Olofson

When the cut line for this article read "meeting I never miss" - I couldn't resist reading as Extension Educators always seemed to be swamped with meetings, but I for one, rarely feel this way about all the meetings I attend.

The article interviews Peter Kirwan, a chief technology officer that initiates "fire side chats" with his staff on a quarterly basis to keep in touch with his staff. He uses a bit of humor - a cardboard cutout of a fireplace - to keep the atmosphere light so staff members have a chance for "relaxed honesty." Kirwan wants it to be a chance to discuss tough issues in a friendly, informal setting. His role is to ask the questions to help people open up - questions like "How can we make the company more fun?" Or "How can you become more productive?"

He sites one of his "best practices" of the chats as being "constructive criticism." He goes on to say "open-ended chats can easily turn into gripe sessions. The basic expectation here is that if you have a complaint, you have some responsibility for resolving it - whether or not it falls within your official area of expertise."

When I think about how our office operates, I think this is something we could learn from. Office conferences always seemed rushed and not much fun - not much time for "relaxed honesty." And as for "constructive criticism" - I think it would be great if we all were expected to come to the table with responsibility for resolving the issues. I do think that is one thing that I have tried hard to instill in the 4-H audience - it's OK to want change - but how are "YOU" going to help that change occur - responsibility is a key in making change happen.

As the old saying goes "you complain - you on committee" - well, that is not all bad in my book.

I think most offices have a long way to go in working with constructive criticism - but with "responsibility for resolving issues" being made an expectation - it would certainly be a great starting point.

-- Anonymous, June 20, 2000