weekly team meeting for "senior" team members - aka 75% of the team and just 4 people that aren't invited

[demotivatedofficeworker]

At work they've started having a weekly senior team members meeting. I've got no problem with senior meetings, but my problem with this is the meeting is for 75% of the team so its more like a meeting for everyone apart from 4 people who have been here less than a year.

I'm one of the 4, part time and only been there 8 months.

Does anyone else think this meeting is bad idea? Its causing resentment for us 4 that expressly are not invited, decisions are made that we have no input on and on Friday I was berated for not being psychic to know a decision made in there!

We have no team meeting that we are invited to, wouldn't be so bad if there was a senior one and a normal one that we all were allowed to attend.

Aibu to raise this with management?

I would say that senior team members would have different roles and responsibilities which need to be discussed whereas junior me,or shave different requirements and are probably like managed by the senior members

We have a seniors' meeting and a team meeting, and everyone's views are openly valued. I think you should raise your concerns. Maybe frame it as you enjoying the job and liking the team, and wanting to be able to contribute. I am really pleased when junior colleagues speak up, and why shouldn't they?

We have senior staff meetings but I wouldn't run one in the way you describe. Are they senior by actual job role or just because they've been there longer?

Also, anyone senior who doesn't communicate an outcome from a
Meeting and then berates you for
Not knowing is an arse!

YANBU. If the meeting really is for senior staff and 75% fit into that group there really is an odd set up. At the very least you should receive minutes advising you of any decisions made especially those that effect you.

They are just senior by way of being there longer, not by role.

It would be fine if it was just a few people, but its most of the team and we only hear snippets of what happened. Just feel like they should have a senior meeting with less of them, then a team one. Because lots of the people in the senior meeting are the same level as me it does feel like I'm missing out on stuff I should have a voice on.

You should see the minutes or be advised of decisions. However YABU to want another meeting as that will just use up waste another hour of senior members' time.

I do feel your pain. Once my team meeting was set for a day I didn't work (used to do 3 days). But actually most meetings are not a good use of time and you should enjoy being free of them.

Do you ever have team meetings that involve all the team members? Are minutes of the meeting circulated?

I agree with the PP that most meetings are either unnecessary, or unnecessarily long. But to have a meeting with only part of the team, at which decisions are made affecting the whole team (and then poorly communicated afterwards) is certainly odd.

I'm not really sure what to suggest. Your post hints at poor communication and some team members not being valued, in which case the issue is rather broader than who goes to team meetings, but at the same time means you may find it harder getting heard.

If this happened to me (decisions affecting me not being communicated) it would trigger a curt email to the person concerned, copied to their manager if it happened a second time - but it really depends on how secure your position is :-/

Thanks mist, it really is just a sign of bigger issues in the team.

I know its only work but annoys me, I want to just ignore it - I'm there 3 days a week so I should be happy at that and part time jobs in my field are like hens teeth.

But even 3 days a week its annoying to feel undervalued and unimportant. I do so much to help the team and make things better (as I do have the most experience in big teams - this team has turned from 3 people to 16 in a couple of years and most people only know working in small teams).

OP the meeting set up sounds strange. where i work we have team meetings that everyone attends and then once a month there is a management meeting for the bosses and team leaders. i can completely understand why the 4 people not invited to your current meetings feel excluded and resentful.

can you make more out of the experience you bring regarding how bigger teams operate? is there a team leader or other senior person who you can discuss your concerns with? what would be the reaction if you said something like "I've observed there are senior team meetings taking place where the whole team attends apart from [names of 4 people excluded] and I was wondering why it is set up that way"?

We have a senior team meeting where they discuss the minutiae of what we do instead of anything strategic. We have a project managers meeting that is a total joke. We have a team meeting that repeats everything that was said in an earlier meeting.

Where I work isn't very good at future planning!!

So are the four that do not attend "senior leaders" as well, and how many SL attend the meeting? It sounds to me like a top-heavy style of leadership if there are lots of SL and just 4 juniors.

Regular team meetings that have actions or decisions impacting or concerning others remit in your team should have meeting minutes circulated to the whole team shortly after! Thats SO basic!! Sounds shambolic, does it reflect generally your 'team' MO ? Personally i wouldnt mind avoiding it as i have minuted such meetings and while it was useful to know whats going on, it got repetitive, people used it to constantly re raise their personal political agenda/work issues: and the 'action' bullet points circulated after told me everything anway, yawn. Can you tell i am not a meetings person?!

You need to be a bit assertive probably and ask for a 1pager bullet point list at the very least with Subject & Action so:

Milestones Spreadsheet Review
Action: EA/PA to chase non contributors

Potential Overspend
Action: PA /SH to to meet to discuss

We had this when I was an admin assistant. I'd attend and minute senior meetings which, in that particular team, was about 60% of the staff. I found it incredibly useful to attend, even in my capacity, and often thought it would have been useful for the rest of the team to as well.

I would certainly ask if you can have a copy of the minutes so you can keep up to date with developments in the team. I'd probably say that, as a part time person, I feel it's really important for me to get a wider picture.

Yes the team is shambolic, I could go on and on about the basic failings they have. Its because its gone from a tiny team to a decent sized, and most people don't know how teams should work. I've been the only one pushing to get the basics right, and I've had a lot of resistance from people that have been there donkeys years ( literally shouting and swearing at me and emails all in caps with loads of!!!!!!)

Just can't decide if I should even bother to make it a better place or just be happy I'm part time and forget about it when not there

sounds bad! is there someone overall in charge of the team? and if so can you speak to them privately about your concerns?

while it must be trmpting just to put your head down and let the rest of them squabble, you do still have to work there and if nothing changes you will continue to be left out of meetings/not be fully aware of what's going on

I would raise it as a way to improve communication throughout the team. If they don't want to include the remaining 4, make it clear it's their responsibility to distribute key info to the 'juniors'. Is this public sector by any chance? I wouldn't be pandering to people who think they're 'senior' just because they've been doing the same job for ages.