Separate getting shit done moments from bonding moments

Daniele Catalanotto
Oct 11, 2022
A Service Design Principle for better meetings and relationships.

After a difficult meeting, a friend of mine comes to and says:

“I really need to spend more time with the team to build our relationship. Then during the meetings, I can focus on making the stuff go forward.”

This is a brilliant take on what is needed to make work meetings work.

If you never have time to build relationships at work, it’s normal that the relationship building takes place in meetings that aren’t designed for it. As humans, we have such a strong need for connection that if we don’t get it elsewhere, we will disrupt meetings to create those missing bonds.

Those who know me know that I often say that you should separate the mindsets, like separating divergent and convergent thinking. This feedback from my friend inspires me to think we could do the same with work meetings. We should separate bonding moments from the “getting shit done” moments (1).

So let me ask you this: how can you create more deep bonding moments so that your team can be faster during meetings?

Footnotes

(1) Don’t get me wrong, I’m not preaching for work meetings without emotions and care. I’m saying that you should take extra time outside of meetings to do that seriously.

Daniele’s personal notes

  • You just read the second draft of this Service Design Principle.
  • The length of this principle has been reduced by 32% compared to the first draft.
  • Once improved even more, this principle could be part of the book “Service Design Principles 201-300.”
  • As always, feel free to share comments, feedback or personal stories to improve this principle.

1 comment

Daniele Catalanotto
Oct 30, 2022

The third draft of this Service Design Principle

After a difficult meeting, a friend tells me:

“I really need to spend more time with the team to build our relationship. Then during the meetings, we can go fast.”

This is a brilliant take on what is needed to make work meetings efficient.

When you don’t have time to build relationships at work, the relationship building will take place in meetings that aren’t made for it.

So we should separate bonding moments from the “getting shit done” moments (1).

So let me ask you.

How can you create more bonding moments for your team to then be faster during meetings?

Footnotes

(1) Don’t get me wrong, I’m not preaching for work meetings without emotions and care. I’m saying that you should take extra time outside of meetings to do that seriously.

Daniele’s notes

  • This is the third draft of this principle.
  • I’ve reduced the length of this principle by 42 % compared to the previous draft.