Kevin McCloud is part of a new wave of executives who will avoid 'the city experience' at any cost if possible. He says he only comes to London sparingly and when he does so, he only hires 'a desk' with Internet connection in an office apartment if necessary, and holds any meetings in restaurants 'around a table'.
Well-Being Australia chairman Mark Tronson, a Baptist minister and cricket chaplain, initiated the 'Around the Tables' (ATT) ministry in 2001. He claims that the new wave illustrated by Kevin McCloud is what ATT has been doing for some years.
"We realise that both Kevin McCloud's sentiment and modus operandi have been the trend for some years: in business, the Arts and academia in Australia, at any rate, this is 'old hat'," M V Tronson noted. "However for many Christian ministries this new wave is something yet to be considered."
The differences in past and present trends in operation are quite significant.
First, as Kevin McCloud points out, he no longer has an office in London.
Second, he avoids visiting London unless it is absolutely necessary.
Third, when he does so, he hires a desk with Internet connection.
Fourth, business meetings are in a restaurant or similar eating place.
Fifth, restaurant business meetings are held out of London if possible.
These five options present a very different scenario to what was the norm. An office in the city was mandatory, seeing people face to face was seen as being imperative and meetings required a seminar room with various items such as a white board, overhead projector, power point projector and more recently, Internet connection; not to mention the reams of photocopied notes in expensive, and the shiny folders for the participants to take home and (hopefully) reflect on later.
"Now, the lap-top is the office, wireless needs no 'hard' connection, and long boring presentations are now far from the norm, and might be sub-titled 'How to lose a client," M V Tronson explained.
Well-Being Australia's Around the Tables (ATT) where Christian mission leaders come together was initially squared off with this latter description, and one year later in 2002, it was repositioned into the new wave.
"There were three issues that confronted us," M V Tronson explained. "First, there was a time-issue as Mission leaders are very busy people. Second, we identified the economic issue: appropriate venues cost a lot. And third, meeting around a table in a restaurant or similar social venue is more congenial and conducive to participants sharing their own experiences with each other, and expressing their own feelings."
Others have been reflecting on this transition, but as yet most have not quite gone quite that far down the track, apart from having an occasional fast food breakfast. Well-Being Australia is considered to either be ahead of the pack or jumping the gun, depending on the viewpoint of the person commenting.
"Our research into the more informal and less expensive 'round table' model proved to not only to be an accurate reflection of what mission leaders appreciated, but we now know it parallels what is actually happening in the wider the market place," M V Tronson noted.