Put what divides us behind us and move on

Last night I was watching Parliament TV.  In case you are wondering, yes, I have MySky with 50+ channels, but I still find myself fascinated when law is being made.  The recent law being passed is a 'Reform Bill' which is merely a collection of a whole pile of issues with a number of laws, including the labeling of DVD cases....saving the industry $50,000 per week as they no longer have to re-censor and re-label incoming movies in this format into NZ using the current method.  Crazy!

I was thinking about the whole process of the Committee stages and the passing of bills through Parliament and even how the sitting days run. The process is so archaic, it makes me smile.  It also makes me think how much more efficent business meetings would be if we applied the same principles....so heres how I see some of it applying..

Rule 1/ There is a ceremonial mace used in parliament (we'll refer to it as our 'weapon of choice' depending on the chair of the meeting).  This 'weapon of chioice' is then carried into the meeting by an appointee of the person running the meeting (we'll call them 'henchman' for the purpose of this exercise) .  The ceremonial mace or weapon of choice is then placed on the meeting table as a threat that if the meeting does not run as it is supposed to, and meeting etiquette not  followed, the "henchman" can choose to use it on the chairs behalf at anytime in the meeting. 

This is actually what pretty much happens in Parliament currently- I actually checked the www.parliament.nz website, of course, there are a few changes I made to the wording, and in all my time watching Parliament TV' I've never actually seen anybody pick up the mace an use it, although I'm sure many have wanted to over time! In parliament, the "henchman" is actually called the Serjeant-at-Arms and their role and the ceremonial mace dates back to 1415.  The mace is carried by that person and simply symbolises the Speakers Authority, and yes, they can use their authority to 'get things under control'.

I made a mental note that I will have to try this process out sometime soon and see how it works....(hmmm I feel another blog coming on)!  Before then I will have to spend time choosing my weapon of choice...something perhaps a little more...spikey...or perhaps I will simply try and find that great gold ceremonial mace, it looks like it could do some damage and it really would be a nice piece of bling for the office!  I'd just love to see the reaction of the meeting attendees when it was placed on the table!
 
 So let's look at the remaining rules and how they might apply...

Rule 2/ If we are running the meeting, we'd  be addressed as "Mr or Mrs Speaker"
Rule 3/ If people spoke over each other, the 'Speaker' would simply say "Order" I'm on my feet and everyone would sit down and be quiet
Rule 4/ When the duration time of the meeting is up-(those1 hour meetings that always run longer because so many people are late- you know what I'm talking about) and when someone is in mid-coversation about an agenda item, or worse yet an off-topic subject, the chair simply rises and says, "I'm sorry to interupt, but the time has come, meeting will be continued next sitting day"  and that is that, you get up and leave.
Rule 5/  People can interject verbally while you are talking, but only to a level that the person talking can still be heard.  Just think, rather than keeping those thoughts in your head, you could actually say them out loud, how fun would that be!

The best part is yet to come, it actually happened last night.  A minister, Tau Henare was asked to leave the house for a period of approx 45 mins due to "out of order' comments.   He was able to come back in to Parliament at 9.00pm.  When he did, he raised several points of order about how he felt the punishment was unjust.  He then refered to the archiac process to 'seek leave' to issue a "Personal Statement" about his good character and behaviour.

So this brings us to point 5 of how this would translate to a business meeting..

5/ If someone is rude in a meeting, they get sent to sit on the naughty chair for 45 mins.  After that, they have a 5 min right to applogise, if they so choose.  Just think how the dynamics would work in our meetings!

The think I liked most about the sitting in Parliament last night was what the speaker said after the incident with Tau Henare.  I will take this into the work environment as I think we can all learn from this one...he simply said. 

"Let's put what divides us behind us and move on".   

I'm sure out of the corner of his eye he glanced at the cerimonial mace, but I could have been mistaken....

I thought that was an excellent piece of advice.  We really should think about this when something frustrates us in a meeting or in the workplace which is causing havoc amongst the team in some way.  Deal with the issue on the spot, get it out in the open and move on, this will create a much heathier and more productive workplace all round.

More facinating insights into the workings of Parliament here....

http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/AboutParl/HowPWorks/FactSheets/c/e/9/00HOOOCPubResAboutFactSheetsOfficers1-Parliament-Brief-Officers-of.htm