On Schedule Conflicts

When you need to attend (or want to attend) two meetings scheduled for the same time slot, you'll eventually resolve the conflict somehow, because you can't attend both. To resolve the schedule conflict, you must address two issues. The first is whether you'll attend the one that matters most, and the second is whether this schedule conflict will occur again. This post provides guidance for those seeking to resolve both issues.

Four factors that increase the incidence of schedule conflicts

Schedule conflicts are unavoidable. But when schedule conflicts are common, they might indicate that something is amiss. That's why it's useful to consider possible implications of a high incidence of schedule conflicts. Here are four factors that can contribute to an elevated level of schedule conflicts.

Too many projects for the available staff

If you have a high-level role in your organization, or if your role is critical for multiple projects or functions, schedule conflicts are less common for you than for others, because people tend to schedule things to accommodate you. That's unfortunate, because that practice insulates you from the level of double booking that others experience. And that insulation can delay your realizing that there's too much happening in the organization — too many projects, too many functions, or maybe just too many meetings.

Consider adopting an alternative organizational structure that has fewer projects or functions that require the attention of someone in your role.

Micromanagement

Perhaps one cause of the scheduling conflicts isn't the need for you to be in two places at once, but is instead your own desire to be. An elevated level of schedule conflicts could be a signal that you're engaging in micromanagement.

If you've delegated responsibility for a project or function to others, let them execute. Make certain that they have what they need to do the job, and then get out of their way.

Too many meetings: Time-slot squatting

Time-slot squatting is the wasteful practice of conducting a "regular" meeting in a regular time slot whether or not the meeting is necessary. Usually the time slot is on a specific day of the week, either weekly or bi-weekly. By conducting the meeting regularly, the meeting owner hopes to keep the designated time slot open for all attendees. The fear is that if the meeting isn't held regularly, other meeting owners will be able to "claim" the slot for themselves. If that happens, the fearful meeting owner believes, finding a time to hold the meeting when all can attend will become difficult even if the meeting is necessary.

Time-slot Time-slot squatting is the wasteful practice
of conducting a "regular" meeting in a
regular time slot whether or not
the meeting is actually necessarysquatting feeds on itself. That is, because those who refrain from the practice quickly find themselves unable to find conflict-free times for meetings, there is an incentive to adopt the practice. The problem can be resolved, but only at the organizational level. The key to resolution is reducing the average number of meetings each person must attend. And that might require reducing the number of projects "in flight."

Toxic political conflict

Some double booking is intentional. For example, suppose Person A must — absolutely must — attend Meeting #1. And suppose the agenda of Meeting #2 includes an action that Person A opposes. To ensure that Person A cannot attend Meeting #2, Chair #2 (the owner of Meeting #2) schedules Meeting #2 to conflict with Meeting #1. This can happen as a result of a political rivalry between Person A and Chair #2, or some other rivalry for which Person A and/or Chair #2 are proxies.

This sort of thing arises from unresolved toxic political conflict. The problem here isn't one of scheduling. The parties to the conflict must resolve the conflict, possibly with "supervisory encouragement."

Last words

Knowledge of the incidence of schedule conflicts can be helpful in focusing the attention of Management on addressing this issue. Fortunately, the organization's calendar software probably has all the data required to determine the frequency of schedule conflicts. By weighting the importance of each meeting, we can create a metric that exposes trends in schedule conflicts and their importance. Together with data about cancellations, absenteeism unrelated to time off, and the incidence of rescheduling, we can produce a clear representation of the scale and impact of the problem.  Top    Next Issue

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And on May 1: Antipatterns for Time-Constrained Communication: 2

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