Do you dread Monday Morning Meetings? Do you “turn off and tune out” until it’s your turn to speak?
By the time you read this blog post, you will be: 1) anticipating tomorrow’s meeting, 2) heading towards that meeting, 3) completing the meeting (or reading this blog post on your iPhone during the actual meeting because you have “tuned out”) or, 4) heading off to yet another one of those meetings.
Most of us perceive Monday Morning meetings as the Start of This Week’s Infighting. Someone rings the bell and we all start in again. Reinforcing the 
status-quo behaviors that keep our company, and us, spinning our collective wheels instead of moving ourselves forward.
Instead of battling our competitors, we are consumed by internal skirmishes.
It doesn’t have to be that way, you know. You can’t move forward, however, until you understand what is holding you back.
Think about having a Monday morning cross-functional team meeting that everyone looks forward to. What would happen in order to achieve that endpoint?
Work to dislodge yourself from the “Us versus Them” status-quo mindset.
Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone had each other’s backs? In the status-quo Monday Morning scenario, everyone ends up at each other’s throats! Not a pretty picture. But one that is played out in countless companies, every Monday morning and on, into the workweek. It’s the way it’s always been done.
Aren’t you supposed to be a well-oiled team working towards unseating your competitors, instead of each other? Yes, I thought so, too. So what happened?
Understand why your functional role is not the same as your job description
Your job title may sound impressive but may carry little weight in terms of your functional role regarding decision-making and impacting your company’s revenue stream. Who are the real decision makers in your organization? What are their criteria for decision making? How can you become a positive influence on revenue generation?
And here is a clue card: if you are not impacting business development and revenue generation for your company, your job may not be as secure as you think it is – even if you are a technical professional.
Techno-babble and business-speak create barriers to collaboration and revenue generation
You can’t 1) have anyone’s back and 2) impact revenue generation if 3) no one understands what you are saying. Including your peers. Everyone tends to sling around professional lingo to show others that they fit in and can run with the pack.
Yes, we all know you are very, very smart and have a tremendous educational pedigree. By being exclusive, however, you are boxing yourself out from being an impactful collaborator and communicator. Think about that one.
Take the perspective of a CEO, and lead rather than “do” as you learn about business planning.
You are the CEO of your career. If you want your colleagues to ask you what you think, rather than if you can perform project tasks, start leading yourself first and foremost. Instead of criticizing management direction, learn to think like a CEO.
Understand the context of the decisions you always seem to be on the receiving end of. By learning about the business planning and modeling processes, you can start impacting those decisions.
Engage colleagues and customers in simultaneous translation: the ability to perceive, think and communicate to both technical as well as non-technical professionals.
Seeking engagement, rather than exclusivity within status-quo discipline driven corporate structures, means you’re collaborating. Becoming a productive and profitable member of your company’s business development process creates your value. And translates this value to your colleagues, company and customers as well.
It’s really a rather fluid set of business development dynamics in the long run.
Your thoughts?
Babette N. Ten Haken, Founder & President of Sales Aerobics for Engineers®, LLC, brings entrepreneurial mojo and business- and revenue-producing collaboration and communication tools to small and mid-sized businesses and startups. Download her newest White Paper at her Free Resources Page. She was named one of the Top 50 Sales & Marketing Influencers 2013. Her book, Do YOU Mean Business? focuses on technical / non-technical collaboration strategies and tools. You can download the first chapter here.
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