Running A Peerage Meeting.

.....At Ursulmas yesterday, there was a Western Regional Pelican Meeting, with Their Majesties in attendance. As the Western Regional Secretary I was expected to run the agenda. I was really not looking forward to doing that due to drama that I was expecting. But the drama I was expecting never showed. I still ended up with a headache, but not from the reasons I had thought.

.....My regular day job has me chairing a lot of meetings. I've actually learned to get pretty good at running them. I've had to. My job involves the repair of Navy vessels that need to get done and back on the road FAST. We don't have the luxury of waiting for people to investigate issues and tangents. Or find specialized tooling. Or write technical guidance when they get the chance. We need people to get organized, get everything they need and get out the door NOW. So when I get a group of people together for one of these meetings, I question their knowledge and ideas thoroughly. I give them hard deadlines that I expect them to meet. I shut people down when they start running off on tangents. I don't hesitate to ensure that we stay focused and get everything out on the table.

.....At work you may have to deal with egos and personality issues, but the fact that everyone around the table is being paid a nice wage to be their makes things a lot easier on me. The bottom line is that they are paid to respond to these emergencies and get the 'broken' Navy boar running again.

.....So, yesterday, I'm sitting at a table in a square of Pelicans and seriously contrasting this meeting with a typical meeting at work. This one especially as Their Majesties were in attendance. On one hand you, as the secretary, are expected to run the meeting. But you are also expected to defer to the wishes of Their Majesties. I half expected Them to actually run the meeting as They seemed to be pretty serious in Their intentions when I spoke to Them via e-mail. I didn't get any cues from them really, so I jumped right into my agenda, the one I had sent out the Monday before the meeting.

.....I knew that things were going to be difficult when I found out that less than half the people present had actually READ the agenda. The next being that many of the Pelicans present hardly ever attend Pelican meetings or weren't even from the Western Region.

.....The first candidate under discussion was controversial and the discussion ensued. But not in a way I expected at all. The real controversial issues were avoided alltogether. But the discussion was still endless. Everyone wanted their say on the candidate. But no one wanted to say the things that I have heard at the smaller regional meetings. It was really rather strange. In fact things seemed to be so much on the positive for the candidate that rather than continue with the endless conversation, I tried to end the discussion and move on a polling. I tried at least three times and was pushed back as more people wanted to talk, and expected to be able to have their say. It was maddening.

.....If I were a bit more paranoid, I'd almost say that it was done on purpose. When all was said and done, even though 'officially' the will of the group was in the positive for this candidate, the only real movement was to pass this candidate on to Kingdom for discussion. To my mind there seemed to be a sense of relief that no real decision had been made, even though the majority of the meeting had been filled with talk of this one candidate.

.....We managed to get through two other candidates, with the conversation moving along at a fairly rapid clip thankfully. Homework was assigned to people. But I made sure to take careful notes as I have learned that homework may be assigned, but the chances of it actually getting completed were slim at best. That seems to be the other real job of a peerage secretary, official nag and / or keeper or do-er of all jobs that others say they are going to do and never do. Especially as there really is no stick you can hold over peoples' heads to make sure they actually do their homework. It's not like you can give them an 'F' on their report card.

.....Sigh! I cornered Countess 'E' after the meeting and asked if she wanted her old job back. To say that she laughed at me would be an understatement. I'm sure that there are ways of actually making progress as a group. I'm just going to have to suck it up and learn how. Just hate the headaches that seem to be a requirement of the learning process. :-)

.....I think I need some caffeine. Stay warm.

.....Aaron / Arontius.