I have accompanied a lot of technical missions over the years. British hosts, Latin American visitors, a full programme of back-to-back meetings, and lunch served in the same room where the morning session just ended.

Wraps. Sandwiches. Crisps on the side.

Eaten standing up, between conversations, in forty-five minutes before the afternoon slot begins.

Every time I see it, I think the same thing: this is where the mission loses half its value; and nobody in the room knows it.

The friction

For the British host, lunch is functional. Nutrients in, politeness observed, time respected. The real work happens in meetings — structured, agendaed, minuted. The more meetings in a day, the better use of everyone's time. Lunch is a gap to fill efficiently.

For the Latin American visitor, lunch is the meeting that matters most. It is where they decide whether they trust the people they have just spent the morning with. Whether they like them. Whether they would want to work with them beyond this visit. Information can be emailed. Alignment can be rescheduled. Trust can only be built face to face, over time, without an agenda.

Neither side is wrong. They are operating with completely different assumptions about what the day is actually for.

Slot v. Flow™ in action