Coffee talk and people walk

It seems that the culture of HP is quite fond of "coffee talks" - short, sharing sessions where managers share stuff with employees; it's really nothing more than those communication sessions that is oh-so advocated in those thick management textbooks. And whenever such a session is held, we'll all walk towards the usual gathering spot inexplicably - much like how salmon goes back to the same breeding ground to spawn their offspring - hence, the title of this post.

I had the pleasure of attending yet another coffee talk this afternoon, though I was not informed formally through email. Perhaps they left me out of the mailing list, perhaps no one bothered with a lowly employee like me; whatever it is, it matters not. At about 3pm, I saw colleagues streaming towards the elevators and given their herd size, it meant only one thing: I was to follow them too.

At the coffee talk, my boss's boss, Shalyn, painted a rosy picture. And she had lotsa numbers, charts and facts to substantiate her points too; absolutely no smoke grenades thrown here. I was listening intently but I could see some who had glazed eyes just simply staring at the screen. Were they bored? Could be. Did they find the stellar performance that the group had achieved irrelevant? Maybe. Or perhaps it's the dreadful Monday's blues exerting its insidious effect upon their minds? Whatever the reason is, I won't know and I'm not too keen to know either.

I am, however, keen to know what the improved performances meant for me. Which is why I was paying attention. After all, it makes no sense to tell me that "the group has made X dollars and improved Y% and achieved on growth of Z% and we will be looking forward to the new challenge of A". These do not translate into tangible returns for me, to say the least. At most, I know that we are doing good, excellent even. Which brings us to the next question: "So what?"

Towards her closing, Shalyn did give thanks to all of us and mention of a "bigger budget for the year end event". I don't know about the rest but this is the part that I was waiting for. It was a brief statement, nothing fanciful nor exciting, though she did say that it will be better than last year's. So, there you have it. An one hour session to inform the employees of the spectacular performance and... That's really about it. I am not sure how others felt but it definitely left me with a sense of wanting for closure.

Anyway, the session was concluded and we walked back to our respective cubicles and resume our normal lives. And at the end of it, all I could remember was how well the group had done and the vague promise of a "better year end event with a bigger budget". How cool is that?