Weekly update calls: The douchebag standoff
Unreasonable demands and challenging characters
I received a work call at 9.15 pm last night. It was from one of the co-consultants working with us on a government infrastructure project. I answered the call assuming it was urgent. It wasn’t.
Consultants can get caught up in being hyper-reactive to client demands without taking pause. You do not always have to jump when the client says “boo”. The purpose of the call was to finalise details of an ongoing deliverable which would be discussed at an upcoming weekly all-party conference call due the next day.
Deep down, no one likes conference calls. They are usually a bit of a snooze fest and can take up big chunks of your day. It is very tempting to drift off during the call, check your phone, your email, or do some shopping on Amazon. Please don’t judge me! However, with remote working, conference calls are becoming a part of our daily ritual.
We had the big all-party weekly update calls today. All the usual suspects from our client, all advisors, and the developer were on the call. There were a few moments pause at the beginning of the call where no one was speaking as we waited for the rest of the team to join. Luckily, no one was sharing their video feeds so they could not see me in my pink pyjamas! I took to my…
