August 24, 1997

The Necessary Art of the Impromptu Meeting

By VERNE G. KOPYTOFF

Copyright 1997 The New York Times Company

At one company day-care center, co-workers who come to pick up their children are known to sit on the floor as they wait -- and to discuss projects. Outside many office buildings, mail-room clerks stand alongside executives during smoking breaks, discussing sports scores or ways to improve the company. And some companies argue against telecommuting on the ground that it reduces the chances for ad hoc communications among staff members.

Rick DeHerder, a general manager and senior vice president for sales and support at Mattel Inc., the toy maker based in El Segundo, Calif., does much of his brainstorming at 7:45 A.M., as he dresses in the locker room after a brisk workout in the company gym. Sometimes wearing only towels, colleagues dressing next to him inevitably ask for and offer suggestions about projects like putting Barbie on the Internet.

"People bounce ideas around while buttoning their shirts, brushing their teeth and shaving," Mr. DeHerder said. "A lot of projects here get born that way."

One place at Mattel that is devoid of shop talk is the exercise area. Mr. DeHerder said that co-workers limited discussions inside the gym to their weekend golf scores and to children "because of an unwritten rule not to talk business while running on the treadmill or lifting weights."

Though impromptu conversations may seem trivial at times, being cut off from them can be disconcerting. Jim Demary, a marketing and communications manager, tells of being shut out from informal meetings while working for the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company.

His complaint is reminiscent of what some women have said for years about workplaces dominated by men, and the suspicion that some very important business got done in the bathroom or on the golf course.

But for Mr. Demary, the workplace was dominated by women, and the male employees could not attend those all-important business discussions in the women's restroom.

"It wasn't by design," Mr. Demary said. "But the men were always the last to know things. I worked for a female vice president, and it was my observation that there were a lot of female-only conversations."

Now working for Rexam, a graphics company in South Hadley, Mass., Mr. Demary has learned another lesson in impromptu politics: the importance of choosing the proper executive to approach. In the end, a project's approval may be as informal as the setting in which it is proposed.

"I've worked with some people who you could get their hallway opinion on something and count on it," Mr. Demary said. "There are other people who let you assume from a hallway discussion that your idea is golden. But then in a formal setting, you hear otherwise."

A generation ago, workers took their lunch breaks together and, as lore would have it, scribbled their ideas on napkins. But now, globe-trotting executives rely on electronic mail and rarely come into the office -- and when they do, they are too busy to schedule time with everyone who wants it. As a result, impromptu meetings may have taken on increased importance.

Harry Levinson, chairman of the Levinson Institute, a corporate psychology research group in Waltham, Mass., said he thought that employees initiated ad hoc meetings to avoid the pressure and judgment of formal presentations -- and of admitting that they cannot solve a problem alone.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, he said, any increase in impromptu meetings is not related to a shortage of formal meetings -- "heavens, there are already too many of those," he said -- but rather to a dearth of opportunities for co-workers to brainstorm informally.

One way to create an environment that inspires more brainstorming is through architecture, said Juliette Lam, director of interior design for the HOK architectural firm in New York City. To encourage ad hoc discussion, she said, some client companies have recently built espresso bars furnished with sofas, created wider corridors to prompt "casual collisions" and installed "perch seating" along hallway walls for people who don't want to look like they are loafing while talking.

An entertainment company, Ms. Lam said, built a fitness center to bring its executives together.

One side of the impromptu phenomenon has nothing to do with happenstance and everything to do with networking. For example, while working as a human resources director for a leading drug company and again at a major bank, Jan Margolis said she made it a vocation to "run into" more senior executives.

Part of her plan involved befriending the secretary who booked flights on the company jet.

That way, Ms. Margolis found out which executives were scheduled to take a flight and, if she chose, joined them for the ride.

Conversation during the flights came naturally, said Ms. Margolis, who now owns a business consulting firm in New Jersey. With the seats arranged living-room style, she could easily strike up discussions with executives without the interruption of ringing telephones and hectic schedules.

"I would start a conversation based on what was in that morning's Wall Street Journal, the stock prices suddenly jumping, or a new product launch," Ms. Margolis said.

"The executives would then ask something like, 'What brings you to Chicago?' or they would mention a project that I was working on, or ask for my input."

She said that the airborne discussions helped male executives take her seriously -- a difficult task for a woman, she said -- and that the schmoozing was no different from what goes on when executives play golf together.

Moreover, her flights -- which averaged two a month -- did not waste company time and money, Ms. Margolis said.

She always scheduled working meetings in the destination city of the corporate jet.

Of Course, a key to a successful informal meeting is having something intelligent to say. For some people, a chance encounter with a boss who asks "What's new?" can suddenly turn them into nervous bumblers who stammer or ramble or say something inane about the weather.

Granville N. Toogood, a business consultant and author of several communication books including "The Inspired Executive" (Carroll & Graf, 1997), suggests that employees have a crisp conversational topic in mind at all times.

He said the point should be limited to about eight seconds, by which time most listeners have decided whether to tune out.

The discussions can be about an issue important to the company, Federal legislation affecting the industry, or an update of your current project, Mr. Toogood said. Rather than thinking of impromptu conversations as small talk, consider them instrumental to a successful career and promotions, he said.

"So many people let these opportunities go by," Mr. Toogood said.

"If you are asked about the new marketing plan, you have to know what to say. This impromptu time is more valuable than a formal meeting. There's no distraction and no one is dozing off."

Then again, some executives do not want to be bothered. Richard E. Winter, a former chairman of Executive Health Group, a health concern based in New York City, became fed up with co-workers who sought raises and offered management suggestions during his trips to the restroom.

He told of employees shouting over stalls and approaching him as he washed his hands. Mr. Winter eventually had a private restroom built for him, in part to avoid the intrusion.

"You want a certain modicum of privacy," he said.

"I would rather see these people at the dignity of my desk.

But in the bathroom, you're at their mercy."