Picture this: It's Monday morning, you're at the office, you're settling in for the day at work, and this guy that you sort of recognize from down the hall, walks right into your cubicle and he steals your chair. Doesn't say a word — just rolls away with it. Doesn't give you any information about why he took your chair out of all the other chairs that are out there. Doesn't acknowledge the fact that you might need your chair to get some work done today. You wouldn't stand for it. You'd make a stink. You'd follow that guy back to his cubicle and you'd say, "Why my chair?"
Pata picha hii: Ni Jumatatu asubuhi, upo ofisini, unakaa sawa kwa ajili ya kuanza siku ya kazi, na mtu uliyekutana nae wakati upo jengo la chini, anaingia kwenye kijiofisi chako na kuiba kiti chako. Hasemi neno lolote --- anaondoka nacho tu. Hakupi sababu yoyote ni kwa nini amechukua kiti chako na kuacha viti vyote vilivyopo katika jengo hilo Hatambui kwamba utahitaji kiti chako ili kukamilisha kazi siku ya leo. Hutapigania Utamfata yule mtu katika kijiofisi chake na kusema "Kwanini uchukue kiti changu?"
Okay, so now it's Tuesday morning and you're at the office, and a meeting invitation pops up in your calendar. (Laughter) And it's from this woman who you kind of know from down the hall, and the subject line references some project that you heard a little bit about. But there's no agenda. There's no information about why you were invited to the meeting. And yet you accept the meeting invitation, and you go. And when this highly unproductive session is over, you go back to your desk, and you stand at your desk and you say, "Boy, I wish I had those two hours back, like I wish I had my chair back." (Laughter)
Ni jumanne asubuhi na upo ofisini, na mualiko wa kikao unajitokeza katika kalenda yako. (Vicheko) Na ni kutoka kwa mwanamama unayemfahamu kiasi kutoka jengo la chini, na kichwa cha habari kinaongelea miradi ambayo ulishawahi kuisikia kwa ufupi tu. Lakini hakuna ajenda. Hakuna taarifa ni kwanini umealikwa katika mkutano huo. Na bado unakubali kuhudhuria mkutano huo, na unaenda. Na baada ya mkutano huu usio na maana kuisha, unarudi katika kijiofisi chako, na usimama na kusema, "Natamani ningerudishiwa masaa mawili niliyopoteza, kama ninavyotamani kurudishiwa kiti changu" (Vicheko)
Every day, we allow our coworkers, who are otherwise very, very nice people, to steal from us. And I'm talking about something far more valuable than office furniture. I'm talking about time. Your time. In fact, I believe that we are in the middle of a global epidemic of a terrible new illness known as MAS: Mindless Accept Syndrome. (Laughter) The primary symptom of Mindless Accept Syndrome is just accepting a meeting invitation the minute it pops up in your calendar. (Laughter) It's an involuntary reflex — ding, click, bing — it's in your calendar, "Gotta go, I'm already late for a meeting." (Laughter)
Kila siku, tunawaruhusu wafanyakazi wenzetu, ambao, ni watu wazuri sana, kutuibia. Na ninaongelea vitu muhimu sana zaidi ya hata samani za ofisini. Naongelea kuhusu muda. Muda wako. Kiukweli, Naamini ya kwamba tupo katikati ya janga la kiulimwengu la ugonjwa mpya ambao ni hatari sana unaofahamika kama MAS: Mindless Accept Syndrome( Ugonjwa wa kukubali jambo bila kuhoji linahusu nini). (Vicheko) Dalili za msingi za MAS ni kukubali mualiko wa kikao pale tu unaoonekana katika kalenda yako. (Vicheko) Ni jambo lisilo la hiari, baada ya hapo.... "Inabidi niondoke, nachelewa kwenye kikao"(Vicheko)
Meetings are important, right? And collaboration is key to the success of any enterprise. And a well-run meeting can yield really positive, actionable results. But between globalization and pervasive information technology, the way that we work has really changed dramatically over the last few years. And we're miserable. (Laughter) And we're miserable not because the other guy can't run a good meeting, it's because of MAS, our Mindless Accept Syndrome, which is a self-inflicted wound.
Vikao ni muhimu, sawa? Na umoja ni funguo ya mafanikio katika kampuni yoyote. Na kikao kinachoendeshwa vizuri kitaleta mafanikio chanya. Lakini katika utandawazi na upana wa teknolojia ya mawasiliano, vile tunavyofanya kazi kumebadilika kwa kiasi kikubwa sana katika miaka michache iliyopita. Na tumekuwa wa ovyo. (Vicheko) Na tumekuwa wa ovyo si kwa sababu watu wengine hawawezi kuongoza kikao vizuri, ni kwa sababu ya MAS, ambalo ni gonjwa tulilonalo.
Actually, I have evidence to prove that MAS is a global epidemic. Let me tell you why. A couple of years ago, I put a video on Youtube, and in the video, I acted out every terrible conference call you've ever been on. It goes on for about five minutes, and it has all the things that we hate about really bad meetings. There's the moderator who has no idea how to run the meeting. There are the participants who have no idea why they're there. The whole thing kind of collapses into this collaborative train wreck. And everybody leaves very angry. It's kind of funny. (Laughter) Let's take a quick look. (Video) Our goal today is to come to an agreement on a very important proposal. As a group, we need to decide if — bloop bloop — Hi, who just joined? Hi, it's Joe. I'm working from home today. (Laughter) Hi, Joe. Thanks for joining us today, great. I was just saying, we have a lot of people on the call we'd like to get through, so let's skip the roll call and I'm gonna dive right in. Our goal today is to come to an agreement on a very important proposal. As a group, we need to decide if — bloop bloop — (Laughter) Hi, who just joined? No? I thought I heard a beep. (Laughter)
Nina ushahidi kwa kuonesha MAS ni janga la ulimwengu. Ngoja nikwambie ni kwanini. Miaka michache iliyopita, niliweka video Youtube, na video hiyo, Nilionyesha aina zote za mikutano ya ovyo uliyowahi hudhuria. Ni ya muda wa dakika tano, na ina kila kitu tusichopenda kuhusu mikutano mibaya. Kuna muongoza kikao asiye na wazo ni jinsi gani ya kuongoza kikao. Kuna washiriki wasio wa wazo kwanini wapo katika mkutano huo. Kila kitu kinaenda ovyo. Na kila mtu anaondoka na hasira. Inafurahisha. (Vicheko) Tuangalie kwa harakaharaka. (Video) Lengo letu leo ni kukubaliana katika pendekezo muhimu sana. Kama kundi, tunatakiwa kuamua kama--- mlio Habari, nani kajiunga? Habari, ni mimi Joe. Leo nafanya kazi kutoka nyumbani. (Vicheko) Karibu Joe, asante kwa kujiunga nasi leo, ni vizuri. Nilikuwa nasema, tuna watu wengi tunaohitaji kuwa nao hapa, tuendelee na nitaanza kama ifuatavyo. Lengo letu leo ni kukubaliana katika pendekezo muhimu sana. Kama kundi, tunatakiwa kuamua kama--- mlio (Vicheko) Habari, nani kajiunga nasi? Hapana? nilidhani nimesikia mlio. (Vicheko)
Sound familiar? Yeah, it sounds familiar to me, too. A couple of weeks after I put that online, 500,000 people in dozens of countries, I mean dozens of countries, watched this video. And three years later, it's still getting thousands of views every month. It's close to about a million right now. And in fact, some of the biggest companies in the world, companies that you've heard of but I won't name, have asked for my permission to use this video in their new-hire training to teach their new employees how not to run a meeting at their company. And if the numbers — there are a million views and it's being used by all these companies — aren't enough proof that we have a global problem with meetings, there are the many, many thousands of comments posted online after the video went up. Thousands of people wrote things like, "OMG, that was my day today!" "That was my day every day!" "This is my life." One guy wrote, "It's funny because it's true. Eerily, sadly, depressingly true. It made me laugh until I cried. And cried. And I cried some more." (Laughter) This poor guy said, "My daily life until retirement or death, sigh." These are real quotes and it's real sad.
Si jambo geni? si jambo geni kwangu pia. Wiki zilizopita baada ya kuiweka katika mtandao, watu 500,000 kutoka nchi mbalimbali, Namaanisha nchi nyingi mbalimbali waliangalia video hii. Na miaka mitatu baadaye, bado inaendelea kuangalia karibuni mara elfu moja katika kila mwezi. Inakaribia kufika milioni sasa hivi. Na kiukweli, baadhi ya makampuni makubwa duniani, ambayo huwa unayasikia ila sitayataja, wameomba ruhusa yangu ili kutumia video hii katika mafunzo ya kuajiri wafanyakazi wapya kuwafundisha waajiriwa wapya jinsi ya kutofanya mikutano katika kampuni zao. Na kama namba--- watu wameangalia mara milioni na inatumika na makampuni yote haya hicho sio kigezo tosha cha kuonyesha tuna tatizo la kiulimwengu katika kundesha mikutano, kuna maoni mengi sana, maelfu yaliyotolewa katika mtandao. baada ya video kuonekana. Maelfu ya watu waliandika vitu kama, "Mungu wangu, hivyo ndivyo siku yangu ilivyokuwa leo" "Hivyo ndivyo maisha yangu ya kazini yanavyokuwa kila siku" "Haya ni maisha yangu" Bwana mmoja aliandika, "Inafurahisha kwa sababu ni kweli. Ukweli wa kuhuzunisha na kuumiza. Imenifanya nicheke mpaka nikaanza kulia. Nikalia na kulia na kulia zaidi." (Vicheko) Bwana huyu alisema, "Maisha yangu mpaka siku nastaafu au umauti utaponikuta" Kuna misemo mingi na inahuzunisha sana.
A common theme running through all of these comments online is this fundamental belief that we are powerless to do anything other than go to meetings and suffer through these poorly run meetings and live to meet another day. But the truth is, we're not powerless at all. In fact, the cure for MAS is right here in our hands. It's right at our fingertips, literally. It's something that I call ¡No MAS! (Laughter) Which, if I remember my high school Spanish, means something like, "Enough already, make it stop!"
Ujumbe mmoja ambao unapatikana katika maoni yote haya ni imani kwamba hatuna nguvu ya kufanya kitu chochote kingine zaidi ya kwenda kwenye vikao na kukumbana na haya mambo yanayotokea katika vikao vinavyoongozwa ovyo na kesho tena kukutana katika mikutano hiyohiyo. Lakini ukweli ni huu, si kwamba hatuna nguvu kabisa. Kiukweli, tiba ya MAS ipo katika mikono yetu. Katika vidole vyetu, kiuhalisia. Ni kitu ninachoita No MAS (Vicheko) Ambapo ninakumbuka kihispania changu wakati nipo sekondari, ilimaanisha, "Imetosha, zuia kuendelea"
Here's how No MAS works. It's very simple. First of all, the next time you get a meeting invitation that doesn't have a lot of information in it at all, click the tentative button! It's okay, you're allowed, that's why it's there. It's right next to the accept button. Or the maybe button, or whatever button is there for you not to accept immediately. Then, get in touch with the person who asked you to the meeting. Tell them you're very excited to support their work, ask them what the goal of the meeting is, and tell them you're interested in learning how you can help them achieve their goal. And if we do this often enough, and we do it respectfully, people might start to be a little bit more thoughtful about the way they put together meeting invitations. And you can make more thoughtful decisions about accepting it. People might actually start sending out agendas. Imagine! Or they might not have a conference call with 12 people to talk about a status when they could just do a quick email and get it done with. People just might start to change their behavior because you changed yours. And they just might bring your chair back, too. (Laughter) No MAS! Thank you. (Applause).
Na hivi ndivyo No MAS inavyofanya kazi. Ni rahisi sana. Kabla ya yote, mara nyingine utapoalikwa katika mkutano ambao hauna maelezo yoyote ya kutosha, bonyezo kitufe cha kupata maelezo ya kikao hicho! Ni sawa, unaruhusiwa na ndo maana kimewekwa pale. Ni baada ya kitufe cha kukubali kujiunga na kikao. Kipo pale kukufanya wewe usikubali moja kwa moja. Halafu, wasiliana na mtu aliyekualika katika kikao hicho. Waambie umefurahishwa sana kusaidia kazi yao waulize ni lipi lengo hasa la kikao na uwaambie unahitaji kujifunza ni vipi unaweza kusaidia katika wao kufikia malengo yao. Na kama tutafanya hivi mara kwa mara, na kufanya kwa heshima, watu wataanza kufikiria zaidi kidogo ni jinsi gani ya kuandaa mikutano kwa ufanisi zaidi. Na itakufanya kufikiria zaidi unapotaka kukubali. Watu wataanza kutuma ajenda. Fikiria! Au hawatokuwa na kikao kwa njia ya simu cha watu 12 wakiongelea kuhusu jambo wakati wanaweza kutumiana barua pepe na kumaliza ajenda kirahisi. Watu wataanza kubadili tabia zao kwa sababu umebadili ya kwako. Na watarudisha kiti chako pia. (vicheko) hakuna MAS! Asante. (Makofi).