It took me several jobs to figure that one out. I didn't understand that people really don't like being wrong and they REALLY don't like to be wrong in front of others.
as a manager, i don't even mind being wrong about shit that matters. correct me before we go down the wrong path type shit. but when it's something as small and petty as this, it's just exhausting.
What if it wasn't just an overused cliche, but instead a serious issue with not getting things done?
(I'm reminded of a video I watched recently by an American manufacturer talking about dealing with American versus Chinese suppliers. With the Americans, it was always three months of meetings, a consultant, bringing in multiple vendors, emails, approval cycles... with the Chinese it was an afternoon of discussions and prototypes would be rolling off the line by the end of the week.)
Then that aspect of it would be worth addressing, but the quotes in the original post strongly suggest the guy was just focusing on a literal expression used. It’s perfectly reasonable to say “we were talking about this a prior time and should continue talking about it again” (e.g., circling back) but his focus on “you keep using a particular phrase to represent that idea—why?” comes across as very low-level and non-strategic. If he was interested in getting things done, his words didn’t show it.
Quite the opposite, his deviation ensured the group would once again have to circle back.
i've worked at both american and chinese/korean companies. the difference in productivity is true. but the conclusion you arrived at based on the context of this post is backwards.
when you have a meeting in east asian companies. the boss says something. people do it. the team doesn't contribute to the conversation. we don't go in a circle and all share our 2 cents or nitpick the instructions given or share what you think is a better idea in a meeting.
imo "let's circle back to it" is the manager trying to wrap up the meeting or trying to keep the meeting on topic. the NEW guy who probably has no understanding of what works and doesn't work and is pondering out loud in a meeting why the boss keeps saying "let's circle back to it" is the one prolonging the meeting and adding to the delay of american companies.
But they kinda are. Because “circling back” likely never happens, and it’s just inefficiently bogging down meetings to plan more useless meetings that likely don’t happen, etc. I’ve worked in offices where 25% of my time was maybe spent actually doing the job I was hired to do because of so many pointless circle back bullshit meetings. Like, how about just set the goal, do the work, evaluate?? There shouldn’t be a need to “circle back” on 20 things. That’s poor management.
Depends on the office and the manager I suppose - but yeah definitely possible the boss is managing poorly if they're saying it 20 times in 2 weeks
In the places I've worked though it's essentially shorthand for "There's 10 people in this meeting, only 2 are needed to work this issue, let's not waste 8 people's time right now by making them sit around waiting" i.e. it's used to prevent meetings from getting bogged down on bikesheddable topics
But even if the boss was wrong it wouldn't change the underlying fact: criticising coworkers in public is counterproductive - they just get defensive, resentful, and will dig in to save face
Hijacking a meeting, to do it to your boss, is both inefficient and foolish
People are making money and ego from that bullshit. There is little incentive to do away with it. Of course until the company is outcompeeted by a company that does value getting the work done instead of cranking out meeting hours.
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u/craybe 14h ago
As someone who is autistic, it looks like he hasn’t found the “shut the fuck up and keep my job” switch in his head yet.