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10 Tips and Ethics for Business Meetings
"No matter how mind-numbing things get, don't be lulled into thinking that meetings aren't important. The fact is, they can make - or break - your career. Here are 10 things you should never do in a meeting:
1. Arrive Late. Nothing says "I'm disorganized" like walking into a meeting which is already in progress. Arriving a few minutes early not only demonstrates that you respect your colleagues' time, but guarantees you get a good seat as well.
2. Be Unprepared. If you've been given an agenda or materials beforehand, read them. Think of any questions you have or contributions you could make to the subjects being discussed.
3. Monopolize the Conversation. When the discussion starts, it is good manners to let more senior figures contribute first. Once they've said their piece, make your points concisely. Don't drone on, or feel compelled to speak at all if you don't have anything useful to say. As the old adage goes, "Better to be thought a fool, than speak and remove all doubt."
4. Make Your Statements Sound Like Questions. Phrasing your statements as questions invites others to say no, argue or take credit for your ideas. Make statements, such as, "Let's do more research on that."
5. Misread Signals. Try to gauge the needs and mood of those in the room. Listen carefully to what people are saying to discern how receptive they might be to your ideas. You need to make your message relevant to your audience. For example, if everyone is focused on cutting costs and you're angling for a system upgrade, you'll either want to stress how the new software will save money, or table your request for another day.
6. Be Intimidated. Unfortunately, some of your colleagues may view meetings as a battleground and themselves as verbal gladiators, sparring for the boss's favor. If you find yourself the victim of a put-down or accusation, calmly defend yourself. If you need to buy time to think, do so with a question that will make your attacker accountable. For example: "Andrew, when did you start thinking I don't care about our sales results?"
7. Chew Gum / Eat. The smacking, popping, cracking and cow-like chewing are annoying. Plus, it's rude and unprofessional. Need we say more?
8. Keep Your Mobile Phone On. You turn it off in restaurants and at the cinema. Turn phones off for your meeting. A ringing phone interrupts the presenter and distracts the audience. And whatever you do, never take a call in the middle of a meeting.
9. Wander Off Topic. Don't hijack the agenda. Stay focused on what you and your team are trying to accomplish. If you must digress into unrelated areas, make sure it's alright with the others present. A good way to handle important issues not related to the topic at hand is to record them on a flipchart and revisit them at an appropriate time.
10. Miss It. Of course, you might get more done if you forgo a meeting to stay at your desk and do your actual work. But if the meeting was called by someone higher up in the organization, you'll miss an opportunity to make yourself known. Remember, in the end, meetings aren't just about productivity; they are also about projecting a positive image and building professional relationships." |
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Problems with Communication in Other Language
"Hi there, I'm in a team of 4 with one manager. 3 out of the 4 members plus the manager are French speaking guys. I am the only one non-French speaking, so I use only English. My team members always talk in French, which makes me feel isolated. We communicate in English in 2 situations: during meetings or when they interact with me (low verbal interaction). Also they send me emails in English.
The company official languages are English and French.
Now my questions: did anyone face a similar issue? Any tips on how I can deal with this?" |
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ABC of Good Communication
"- Be yourself
- Remove communication noises and biases
- Create a communicative environment
- Learn to listen (and ask questions)
- Don't be single minded (no prejudices)
- Take risk (it makes the communication very good...)
- Be sober - and not being drunk, to lose the natural stress...
- Get empowered." |
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Communication in Management
"This entire area of communication is very important and much is written on the subject. I believe that in the context of manager - subordinate, knowing enough about your employee to allow you to communicate and delegate tasks through "the lens of the employee" is most important." |
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Body Language in Verbal Communication
"Body language (gestures) plays an important role in delivering the key message in verbal communication...
What are the gestures you can use in verbal communication?" |
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Types of Communication
"What are the types of communication?
A. Interpersonal Communication (between two people/small group, feedback is instant, audience is homogeneous and known to the source)
B. Intrapersonal Communication (to self)
C. Extrapersonal Communication (lifeless things)
D. Mass Communication (through mass media channels like radio, tv, newspapers etc, feed back is slow or "casual", audience are heterogeneous and not known to the source (communicator),
E. Macro Group Communication (to a large mob/group of people through microphone etc)
F. Media Communication (to homogeneous audience through media channels)." |
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Communicating Effectively
"How to communicate in an effective way?
1. Remember the definition of communication i.e. what the communication means
2. What's the purpose of your communication
3. Bring the process (elements) of communication into your mind
4. Work on following communication elements:
- SOURCE - Identify the exact source of communication... From whom the information flows
- ENCODING - Is the proper ideas for which purpose you are working for present into your mind... For this read, read.. Read and read to "mature" your ideas
- MESSAGE - Bring your ideas, feelings or thinking into meaningful, clear to understand and easy words... Don't use cliche or jaw breaking of tongue twisting words... Personify your ideas in a simple way... In other words make your message according to the demographic and psychographic features of your audience... Keep in mind the education level, age, gender, financial status, culture, social values, norms, mores, their language, their religious believes, accessibility and other things while making a message
- CHANNEL - Choose the medium that is appropriate for the audience to accept the ideas... so they can buy it. Have time to watch/listen/read, easy access, etc
- DECODING - Convey your message into simple language this will help the audience to decode your ideas easily
- RECEIVER (audience) - While you are creating a message, always... first of all... Analyze who are your audience or to whom you are conveying your message... Bear in mind the socio-economic-relegious-financial level and demographic and psychographic factors
- FEEDBACK - Always always seek feedback from your audience. This will help your to re-make your message according to your requirements for the purpose
- NOISE - Always reduce noise/hurdles during the process of communication, noise can be either phyical or psychological:
H1. Physical noise includes semantic noise... Wrong utterance of words, misspelling... Poor printing, problems in signals or transmissions... Or extreme volume difficult to understand etc.
H2. Psychological noise includes frame of reference is not same, education level or field of experience is not same, communicator's bias, cultural factors and cognitive dissonance etc.
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Role of Communication in New Companies
"Evaluating the role of communication in a turbulent business environment, what are the key elements to consider for boosting the performance of the performance of new companies?" |
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Textbook on Manageral Communication
"Can anyone recommend a very good book on managerial communication?
Please give name of the book, author and the year of publication. Thanks." |
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Communications and the Impact of Culture
"Communication styles can mean different things to different people particularly when the cultural impact comes into play. This is most important for expatriate roles where some period of adjustment is necessary to assimilate/learn the norms in the new setting. I experienced a case where the hat was passed around to collect some funds for a staff member whose family experienced a bereavement. With all good intensions he put up a notice thanking everyone who contributed towards the death of his father. Reading the notice, it meant quite something else." |
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New Job? Network Immediately!
"William C. Byham recommends new managers should start to network right away when in a new job. The main reason for this is that networking is the best way to quickly acquire crucial information about the job. It saves time, avoids reinventing of wheels and avoids repeating errors.
3 steps to take are:
1. Find out who should be in your network
2. Dare to introduce yourself
3. Reciprocate by also giving useful information back and stay in touch.
Source: HBR Jan 2009, p. 22" |
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