Business Communications
Lesson Two
FJU/AIEDL
Dr. M. Connor
Based on Excellence in Business Communication,5/e
Thill and Bovée
Teamwork

Team work has become an important
part of both the academic world as well
as the corporate world.
What is a team?
A team is a unit of two or more people
who work together to achieve a goal.
 Team members have a shared mission
and are collectively responsible for their
work.

What kind of jobs?
Team members may be responsible for
writing reports, giving oral presentations,
and attending meetings.
 Whether the goal is to solve a problem,
monitor a process, or investigate an
opportunity, team members must
communicate effectively among
themselves and with people outside their
team.

Popular workstyle

In a recent survey of Fortune 1000
executives, 83% said that their
firms are working in teams or
moving in that direction.
Why?
One reason is performance.
 A recent study of 232 organizations
across more than eight industries
showed that companies that worked in
teams showed the highest improvement
in performance.

Another reason is creativity.

Teams encourage creativity in workers
through participative management, which
means involving workers in the
company’s decision making.
Types of teams

The type, structure and composition of
individual teams vary within an organization.
 Companies can create formal teams that
become part of an organization’s structure.
 Or they may establish informal teams that
aren’t part of the formal organization, but are
formed to solve problems, work on a specific
activity, or encourage employee participation.
Problem-solving teams and task
forces
Informal teams that assemble to resolve
specific issues and disband once their
goal has been accomplished.
 Team members often include
representatives from many departments
so that those who have a stake in the
output are able to provide input.

Committees
A committee usually has a long life span
and may become a permanent part of
organizational structure.
 Committees usually deal with regularly
recurring task.
 For example, a grievance committee
may be formed as a permanent resource
for handling employee complaints and
concerns

Virtual teams
Bring together geographically distant
employees to accomplish goals.
 A company may have plants and offices
around the world, but it can use
computer networks, teleconferencing, email and global transportation to build
teams that are as effective as those all in
the same building.

Always a good idea?
Teams can play a vital role in helping an
organization reach its goals.
 However, they are not appropriate in
every situation.
 When deciding whether to use teams,
managers must weigh both the
advantages and disadvantages.

At their best . . .
teams can be extremely useful for
making key decisions.
 The interaction of the participants leads
to good decisions based on the
combined intelligence of the group.

Benefits
Increased information and knowledge.
 Increased diversity of views.
 Increased acceptance of a solution.

Increased information and
knowledge

By pulling together the resources of
several individuals, teams bring more
information to the decision process.
Increased diversity of views

Teams bring many different perspectives
to the decision process.
Increased acceptance of a solution
Team members who participate in
making a decision are more likely to
enthusiastically support the decision and
encourage others to accept it.
 Because they share in the final product,
they are committed to seeing it succeed.

More benefits




Teams generally exceed performance levels that
would have been accomplished had the members
worked independently, perhaps because teams have
the potential to unleash vast amount of creativity and
energy in workers.
Motivation and performance are often increased
because workers share a sense of purpose and
mutual accountability.
Teams also fulfill the individual worker’s need to be
part of a group.
They can decrease employee boredom, increase
feelings of dignity and self-worth and reduce stress
and tension between workers.
Disadvantages




At their worst, teams are unproductive and frustrating,
and they are a waste of everyone’s time.
Some may actually be counter-productive, because
they may arrive at a bad decision.
A team may develop groupthink, the willingness of
individual members to set aside the personal opinions
and go along with everyone else, even if everyone
else is wrong, simply because belonging to the team is
more important to them than making the right decision.
Groupthink can lead to poor-quality decisions and illadvised actions, even inducing people to act
unethically.
Hidden agendas

Some team members may have a
hidden agenda—private motives that
affect the group’s interaction.


George may want to prove that he’s more
powerful than Lili; Lili might be trying to
share the risk of making a decision; and
Sam might be looking for a chance to
postpone doing ”real” work.
Each person’s hidden agenda can
detract from the team’s effectiveness.
Free-riders
Team members who don’t contribute
their fair share to the group’s activities
because they aren’t being held
individually accountable for their work.
 Their free-ride attitude can mean that
some tasks don’t get done.

High cost of coordinating group
activities

Aligning schedules, arranging meetings,
and coordinating individual parts of a
project can eat up a lot of time and
money.
Teams aren’t effective for every
situation.

"When the ship goes down, you don’t
call a meeting. The captain gives an
order or everybody drowns.”

Peter Drucker, management expert
Group dynamics

The interactions and processes that take
place in a team.
More effective than others

Some teams are more effective than
others simply because the dynamics of
the group facilitate member input and the
resolution of differences.
Rules
To keep things moving forward,
productive teams also tend to develop
rules that are conducive to business.
 Often these rules are unstated.
 They just become standard group
practice or norms—informal standards of
conduct that groups share and that guide
member behavior.

Strong identity

When a team has a strong identity, the
members observe team rules religiously.
 They are upset by any deviation and feel a
great deal of pressure to conform.
 This loyalty can be positive, giving members a
strong commitment to one another and highly
motivating them to see that the team
succeeds.
 However, an overly strong identity could leave
to negative conditions such as groupthink.
Group roles

Members of a team can play various roles, which
fall into three categories.
 Members who assumed self-oriented roles are
motivated mainly to fulfill personal needs, so they
tend to be less productive than other team
members.
 Far more likely to contribute to team goals are
those members who assume team-maintenance
roles to help everyone work well together.
 Task facilitating roles help solve problems or
make decisions.
Which role?

To a great extent, the roles that
individuals assume in a group depend
on:
their status in that group, and
 their reasons for joining the group.

Status

Status depends on many variables
including
personal attractiveness,
 competence in a particular field,
 past successes,
 education,
 age,
 social background, and
 organizational position.

Status varies
A person’s status also varies from team
to team.
 In most teams, as people try to establish
their relative status, an undercurrent of
tension can get in the way of real work.
 Until roles and status have stabilized, a
team may have trouble accomplishing its
goals.

Five Phases of Team Decisions

While teams grow and evolve in their
own ways, research shows that most
teams typically reach a decision by
passing through five phases.
Orientation
 Conflict
 Brainstorm
 Emergence
 Reinforcement

Orientation

Team members socialize, establish their
roles, and begin to define their task or
purpose.
Conflict
Team members begin to discuss their
positions and become more assertive in
establishing their roles.
 If members have been carefully selected
to represent a variety of viewpoint and
expertise, disagreements are a natural
part of this phase.

Brainstorm
Team members air all the options and
discuss the pros and cons fully.
 At the end of this phase, members begin
to settle on a single solution to the
problem.

Emergence
Team members reach a decision.
Consensus is reached when the team
finally finds a solution acceptable enough
for all members to support, even if they
have reservations.
 This consensus happens only after all of
the members have had an opportunity to
communicate their positions and feel that
they have been listened to.

Reinforcement

Group feeling is rebuilt and the solution
is summarized. Members receive their
assignments for carrying out the group’s
decision, and they make arrangements
for following up on those assignments.
Developing an effective team
In effective team collaborations, all team
members recognize that each individual
brings valuable assets, knowledge and
skills to the team.
 They are willing to exchange information,
examine issues, and work through
conflicts that arise.

Trust is important

They trust one another, looking forward
to the greater good of the team and
organization rather than focusing on
personal agendas, making unilateral
decisions or pulling power plays.
Characteristics of effective teams
Clear sense of purpose
 Open and honest communication
 Decision by consensus
 Creative thinking
 Focused

Clear sense of purpose

Team members clearly understand the
task at hand, what is expected of them,
and their role on the team.
Open and honest communication
The team culture encourages discussion
and debate.
 Team members speak openly and
honestly, without the threat of anger,
resentment, or retribution.
 They listen to and value feedback from
others. As a result, all team members
participate.

Decision by consensus
All decisions are arrived at by
consensus.
 No easy, quick votes are taken.

Creative thinking

Effective teams encourage original
thinking, considering options beyond the
usual.
Focused

Team members get to the core issues of
the problem and stay focused on key
issues.
This all takes time

Learning team skills takes time and
practice, so many companies now offer
employees training in building their team
skills.
Understanding conflict
Conflict—clashes over differences in
ideas, opinions, goals, or procedures.
 Conflict can be both constructive and
destructive to a team’s effectiveness.

Constructive

When it increases the involvement of
team members and results in the
solution of a problem.
Destructive:

When it diverts energy from the more
important issues, destroys the morale of
teams or individual team members, or
polarizes or divides the team.
Conflict can arise for many reasons
Teams and individuals may believe that
they are competing for scarce or
declining resources, such as money,
information, and supplies.
 Team members may disagree about who
is responsible for a certain task (usually
the result of poorly defined
responsibilities and job boundaries.)

Conflict reasons
Poor communication can lead to
misunderstandings and misperceptions
about other team members, and
intentionally withholding information can
undermine member trust.
 Basic differences in values, attitudes and
personalities can lead to arguments.

Conflict reasons
Power struggles may result when one
party questions the authority of another
or when people or teams with limited
authority attempt to increase their power
or exert more influence.
 Conflict can also arise when individuals
or teams are pursuing different goals.

Resolving conflict

The following measures can help team
members resolve conflict:
Proaction
 Communication
 Openness
 Research
 Flexibility
 Fair play
 Alliance

Proaction:

Deal with minor conflict before it
becomes major conflict.
Communication:

Get those directly involved in the conflict
to participate in resolving it.
Research:

Seek factual reasons for the problem
before seeking solutions.
Flexibility:

Don’t let anyone lock into a position
before considering other solutions.
Fair play:

Don’t let anyone avoid a fair solution by
hiding behind the rules.
Alliance:

Get parties to fight together against an
"outside force” instead of against each
other.
Overcoming resistance

Part of dealing with conflict is learning how to
persuade other people to accept your point-ofview.
 In business situations, usually reason prevails.
 However, you sometimes encounter people
who react emotionally.
 When you face irrational resistance, try to
remain calm and detached so that you can
avoid destructive confrontations and present
your position in a convincing manner.
Four steps to resolving conflict:
Express understanding
 Make people aware of their resistance
 Evaluate others’ objections fairly
 Hold your arguments until the other
person is ready for them

Express understanding:
Most people are ashamed of reacting
emotionally to business situations.
 Show that you sympathize.



You might say, "I can understand that this
change might be difficult, and if I were in
your position, I might be reluctant myself.”
Help the other person relax and talk
about his or her anxiety so that you have
a chance to offer reassurance.
Make people aware of their
resistance

When people are noncommittal and silent,
they may be tuning you out without even
knowing why.
 Continuing with your argument is futile.
 Deal directly with the resistance, without being
accusing.


You might say, “You seem cool to this idea. Have I
made some faulty assumptions?”
Such questions force people to face and
define their resistance.
Evaluate others’ objections fairly.
Don’t simply repeat yourself.
 Focus on what the other person is expressing,
both the words and the feelings.
 Get the person to open up so that you can
understand the basis for their resistance.
 Others’ objections may raise legitimate points
that you’ll need to discuss, or they may reveal
problems that you’ll need to minimize.

Hold your arguments till the other
person is ready for them
Getting your point across depends as
much on the other person’s frame of
mind as it does on your arguments.
 You can’t assume that a strong argument
will speak for itself.
 By becoming more audience-centered,
you will learn to address the other
person’s emotional needs first.

Collaborating on Team Messages

Collaborative messages, or team
messages, involve working with other
writers to produce a single document or
presentation.

For instance, you might sit down with your
boss to plan a memo, work independently
during the writing phase, and then ask your
boss to review the message and suggest
revisions.
Using technology to collaborate

Videoconferencing allows people in
several locations to "meet” via video and
audio links.
Software options

One form of videoconferencing technology is
decision-making software (also called
groupware or electronic meeting systems).
 This software offers distinct advantages. For
example, participants can anonymously type
any message they want, and it flashes on the
screen for all to see. Such anonymity allows
people to be brutally honest without penalty.
 In addition, this approach is up to 55% faster
than face-to-face meetings because chitchat is
eliminated.
Drawbacks
You must be a good typist.
 Also, those with the best ideas don’t get
credit for them.
 Finally, you miss out on vital face-to-face
nonverbal feedback.

Web technology

Also allows team members to collaborate.
 More and more companies are developing
large-scale work spaces on the internet for
online discussions, video conferencing, and
data sharing.
 The primary benefits of Web-based
collaboration are that it’s easy, cost-effective,
and allows you to do multiple functions in a
seamless manner.
Preparing effective team messages
You must be flexible and open to the
opinions of others—focusing on your
team’s objectives instead of your own.
 You must also get organized.
 Select a leader and clarify goals.

First step
Before anyone begins to write, team
members must agree on the purpose of
the project and on the audience.
 Your team must also plan the
organization, format, and style of the
document.

Guidelines









Select team members wisely.
Select a responsible leader.
Promote cooperation.
Clarify goals.
Elicit commitment.
Clarify responsibilities.
Instill prompt action.
Apply technology
Ensure technological compatibility.
Select team members wisely:

Choose team members who have strong
interpersonal skills, understand team
dynamics, and care about the projects.
Select a responsible leader:

Identify a group leader who will keep
members informed and intervene when
necessary.
Promote cooperation:

Establish communication standards that
motivate accuracy, openness and trust.
Clarify goals:

Make sure team goals are aligned with
individual expectations.
Elicit commitment:

Create a sense of ownership and shared
responsibility for the document
Clarify responsibilities:

Assign specific roles and establish clear
lines of reporting.
Instill prompt action:

Establish a timeline and deadlines for
every part of the project.
Apply technology:

Use electronic tools to communicate
quickly and effectively with other team
members.
Ensure technological compatibility:

Use the same word-processing program
to make it easier to combine files.
Speaking with team members

Given a choice, people would rather talk to
one another than write to each other.
 Talking takes less time and needs no
composing, keyboarding, rewriting, duplicating
or distributing.
 Even more important, oral communication
provides the opportunity for feedback.
 When people communicate orally, they can
ask questions, and test their understanding of
the message.
Think before you speak!

However, speaking is such an ingrained
activity that we tend to do it without much
thought.
 This casual approach can cause problems in
business.
 You have far less opportunity to revise your
spoken words than to revise your written
words.
 You can’t cross out what you just said and
start all over.
To improve your speaking skills…

Be more aware of using speech as a tool for
accomplishing your objectives in a business
context.
 Break the habit of speaking spontaneously,
without planning what you are going to say or
how you’re going to say it.
 Before you speak, think about your purpose,
your main idea, and your audience.
 Organize your thoughts, decide on a style that
suits the occasion and your audience and edit
your remarks mentally.
Focus on your audience

Perhaps the most important thing you can do.
 Try to predict how your audience will react,
and organize your message accordingly.
 As you speak, watch the other person and
judge from verbal and non-verbal feedback
whether your message is making the desired
impression.
 If it isn’t, revise it and try again.
Listening to team members

Because listening is such a routine, everyday
activity, few people think of developing their
listening skills.
 Unfortunately, most of us aren’t very good
listeners.
 We may hear the words, but that doesn’t mean
we’re actually listening to the message.
 Most of us face so many distractions that we
don’t always pay full attention to what’s being
said.
Effective listeners

Effective listeners welcome new information
and new ideas.
 The payoff is that they stay informed and upto-date.
 Good listening gives you an edge and helps
you be more effective when you speak. It
strengthens organizational relationships,
enhances product delivery, and allows the
organization to manage growing diversity, both
in the customers it serves and in the
workforce.
Most people listen poorly

In fact, people
listen at or below a 25% efficiency rate,
 remember only about half of what’s said in a
10 minute conversation,
 forget half of that within 48 hours,
 when questioned about material they’ve just
heard, people are likely to get the facts
mixed up.

Why????
Because effective listening requires a
conscious effort and a willing mind.
 Learning to listen effectively can be a
difficult skill, but it’s one of the best ways
to improve your communication skills.
 It enhances your performance, which
leads to raises, promotions, status and
power.

Types of listening:
Three types of listening differ not only in
purpose, but in the amounts of feedback
or interactions that occur.
 You can improve your productivity by
matching your listening style to the
speaker’s purpose.

Types of listening:
Content listening
 Critical listening
 Empathic listening.

Content listening
Goal of content listening is to understand
and retain the speaker’s message.
 You may ask questions, but basically the
information flows from the speaker to
you.
 That’s what you’re doing right now. It
doesn’t matter if you agree or disagree,
approve or disapprove, only that you
understand.

Critical listening

The goal of critical listening is to understand
and evaluate the speaker’s message on
several levels: the logic of the argument, the
strength of the evidence, the validity of the
conclusions, the implications of the message
for you and your organization, the speaker’s
intentions and motives, and the omission of
any important or relevant points.
 Critical listening often involves interaction as
you try to uncover the speaker’s point-of-view
and credibility.
Emphatic listening

The goal of emphatic listening is to understand
the speaker’s feelings, needs and wants so
that you can appreciate his or her point-ofview, regardless of whether or not you share
that perspective.
 By listening in an emphatic way, you help the
speaker vent the emotions that prevent a
dispassionate approach to the subject.



Avoid the temptation to give advice.
Try not to judge the individual’s feelings.
Just let the other person talk.
The Listening Process

Listening involves five related activities,
which usually happen in sequence:
Receiving
 Interpreting
 Remembering
 Evaluating
 Responding

Receiving:
Physically hearing the message and
taking note of it.
 Physical reception can be blocked by
noise, impaired hearing or inattention.

Interpreting:
Assigning meaning to sounds according
to your own values, beliefs, ideals,
expectations, roles, needs and personal
history.
 The speaker’s frame of references may
be very different from yours, so you may
need to determine what the speaker
really means.

Remembering:
Storing a message for future reference.
 As you listen, you retain what you hear
by making notes or by making a mental
outline of the speaker’s key points.

Evaluating:
Applying critical thinking skills to weigh
the speaker’s remarks.
 You separate fact from opinion and
evaluate the quality of the evidence.

Responding:
Reacting once you’ve evaluated the speaker’s
message.
 If you’re communicating one-on-one or in
small groups, the initial response generally
takes the form of verbal feedback.
 If you’re one of many in an audience, your
initial response may take the form of laughter,
applause, or silence.
 Later on, you may act on what you have
heard.

Giving Constructive feedback

There are a number of things to keep in mind
in order to give constructive feedback:







Focus on particular behaviors
Keep feedback impersonal
Use "I” statements
Keep feedback goal-oriented
Make feedback well timed
Ensure understanding
Direct negative feedback toward behavior that is
controllable by the recipient.
Focus on particular behaviors

Feedback should be specific rather than
general
Keep feedback impersonal

No matter how upset you are, keep
feedback job related, and never criticize
someone personally.
Use "I” statements

Instead of saying, "You are absent from
work too often,” say "I feel annoyed
when you miss work frequently.”
Keep feedback goal-oriented
If you have to say something negative,
make sure it’s directed towards the
recipient’s goals.
 Ask yourself whom the feedback is
supposed to help. If the answer is
essentially you, bite your tongue.

Make feedback well timed

Feedback is most meaningful when there
is a short interval between the recipient’s
behavior and the receipt of feedback of
that behavior.
Ensure understanding

If feedback is to be effective, you need to
make sure the recipient understands it.
Direct negative feedback
Direct negative feedback toward
behavior that is controllable by the
recipient.
 There’s little value of reminding someone
of a shortcoming over which he or she
has no control.

Barriers to effective listening
Prejudice
 Self-centeredness
 Listening selectively

Prejudgment

One of the most common barriers to
effective listening.
Difficult to overcome

It is an Automatic process.
 To operate in life, people must hold
assumptions.
 However, in new situations, these assumptions
can often be incorrect.
 Moreover, some people listen defensively,
viewing every comment as a personal attack.
To protect their self-esteem, they distort
messages by tuning out anything that doesn’t
confirm their view of themselves.
Self-centeredness

Causes people to take control of
conversations, rather than listening to
what’s being said.
Example

If a speaker mentions a problem (Perhaps the
manager is trying to deal with conflict between
team members), self-centered listeners
eagerly relate their own problems with team
conflict.
 They trivialize the speaker’s concerns by
pointing out that their own difficulties are twice
as great. And they can top positive
experiences as well.
 No matter what subject is being discussed,
they will know more than the speaker does—
and they’re determined to prove it.
Listening selectively

Also known as out-listening.
 You let your mind wander to things such as
whether you brought your dry cleaning ticket to
work.
 You stay tuned out till you hear a word or
phrase that gets your attention once more.
The result is that you don’t remember what the
speaker actually said.
 Instead you remember what you think the
speaker probably said.
Fast brains!

One reason our minds tend to wander is that
we think faster than we speak. Most people
speak at about 120 to 150 words per minute.
But depending on the subject and individual,
studies show that people can process
information at 500 to 800 words per minute.
 You should be using this difference to pull the
argument together, but some people let their
minds wander and tune out.
Understanding non-verbal
communication
Good listeners pay attention to more
than just verbal communication.
 Such non-verbal communication consists
of all the cues, gestures, facial
expressions, spatial relationships and
attitudes towards time that enable people
to communicate without words.

“Actions speak louder than words.”
That’s a saying in English.
 It is certainly true.
 It has been said that up to 80% of
communication is non-verbal.
 But you have to know the culture of the
speaker, as non-verbal clues change
from culture to culture.

In the same culture
Because nonverbal communication is so
reliable, people generally have more
faith in non-verbal messages than in
verbal messages.
 If a person says one thing but transmits
a different non-verbal message, people
will inevitably believe the non-verbal
message

The types of non-verbal
communication
facial expression
 gesture and posture
 vocal characteristics
 personal appearance
 touching behavior
 and use of time and space.
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Facial expressions:
The face and eyes command particular
attention as sources of non-verbal
messages.
 But remember, this is highly contextual to
culture.
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Walters and Qaddafi
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After her interview with Col. Muamar el-Qaddafi,
Barbara Walters, an American journalist said, “He
wouldn’t look at me. I found it disconcerting that he
kept looking all over the room but rarely at me.”
Like many people in the United States, Walters was
associating lack of eye contact with trustworthiness, so
when Quadaffi withheld eye contact, she felt
uncomfortable.
But in fact, Quadaffi was paying Walters a compliment.
In Libya, not looking confers respect, but looking
straight at a woman is considered nearly as serious as
physical assault.
Gesture and posture:
By moving your body, you can express
both specific and general messages,
some voluntary, some involuntary.
 Knowing how to read people helps you
be a more effective communicator.

Personal appearance:
Grooming, clothing, accessories “style”
all modify a personas appearance.
 If your goal is to make a good
impression, adopt the style of the people
you want to impress.

Touching behavior:
Touch is an important vehicle for
expressing warmth, comfort and
reassurance.
 Perhaps because it implies intimacy,
touching behavior is governed in various
circumstances by strict customs that
establish who can touch whom and how.

Norms vary
The established norms vary, depending
on the gender, age, relative status and
cultural background of the persons
involved.
 In business situations, touching suggests
dominance, so a higher-status person is
more likely to touch a lower-status
person that the other way around.

Taboos
Touching has become controversial,
however, because it can sometimes be
interpreted as sexual harassment.
 It is also taboo in some cultures.
 It is never OK for a strange woman to
touch an Orthodox Jewish man and vice
versa.
 The same goes for strict Muslims.

Use of time and space:

Like touch, time and space can be used to
assert authority. Some people demonstrate
their importance by making other people wait
(which I think is rude and arrogant, but
sometimes a gesture of authority is needed, so
this is good to know)
 Others show respect by being on time.
 People can also assert their authority by
occupying the best space.
Space
In US companies, the chief executive
usually has the corner office and the
prettiest view.
 Apart from serving as a symbol of status,
space determines how comfortable
people feel talking to one another.
 When others stand too close or too far
away, we are likely to feel ill at ease.

Cultural differences
Personal space varies from culture to
culture, so it’s always good to do some
advance reading before meeting people
from a different culture.
 There are a myriad of different books out
there on international business etiquette,
many of them culture specific.

Increasing meeting productivity

Meetings help teams solve problems by
providing the opportunity for giving and
getting feedback, whether your goal is to
develop ideas, identify opportunities or
decide how to maximize resources.
Many meetings are unproductive
In a recent study, senior and middle
managers reported that only 56% of their
meetings were actually productive and
that 25% of them could have been
handled by a memo or a phone call.
 Meeting productivity is affected by the
way you prepare for them and the way
you conduct and participate in them.

Preparing for meetings

The biggest mistake in holding meetings is not
having a specific goal.
 So before you call a meeting, make sure that
you really need one.
 Perhaps you could communicate more
effectively through a memo or individual
conversations.
 If you decide that you do need the interaction
of the group, make sure you plan enough time
to achieve your goals.
For successful meetings:

The key to productive meetings is careful
planning of
purpose,
 participants,
 location, and
 agenda.

Decide on your purpose:

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Although many meetings combine purposes, most are
usually informational or decision making.
Informational meetings allow participants to share
information and perhaps coordinate action.
Briefings may come from each participant or from the
leader, who then answers questions from the
attendees.
Decision-making meetings usually involve persuasion,
analysis, and problem solving.
They often include a brain-storming session, followed
by a debate on the alternatives, and they require that
each participant is aware of the nature of the problem
and criteria for the solution.
Select participants:
Being invited to this or that meeting can
be a mark of status, and you may be
reluctant to leave anyone out.
 Nevertheless, try to invite only those
people whose presence is essential.

Participant logistics

If the session is purely informational, and one person
will be doing most of the talking, you can include a
relatively large group. However, if you’re trying to
solve a problem, develop a plan or reach a decision,
try to limit participation to between six and twelve
people.
 The more participants, the more comments and
confusion you are likely to generate. But even as you
try to limit participants, be sure to include key decision
makers and those who can contribute.
 Holding a meeting is pointless if the people with
necessary information are not there.
Choose an appropriate location:

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Decide where you’ll hold the meeting and reserve the
location.
For work sessions, morning meetings are usually more
productive than afternoon sessions.
Also, consider the seating arrangement. Are rows of
chairs suitable or do you need a conference table?
Plus, give some attention to details such as room
temperature, lighting, ventilation, acoustics and
refreshments.
These things may seem trivial, but they can make or
break a meeting.
You might also considering meeting in cyberspace.
Set and Follow an Agenda:
Although the nature of a meeting may
sometimes prevent you from developing
a fixed agenda, at least prepare a list of
matters to be discussed.
 Distribute the agenda to participants
several days before the meeting so that
they know what to expect and can come
prepared to respond to the issues at
hand.

Agendas

Include the names of the participants, the time,
the place, and the order of business.
 Make sure the agenda is specific.

For example, the phrase “development budget”
doesn’t reveal much, whereas the longer
explanation “Discussion: Proposed reduction of
2006-2007 development budget due to our new
product postponement” helps committee members
prepare in advance with facts and figures.
Starting and ending on time!
Agendas help you start and end your
meetings on time.
 Starting and ending on time sends a
signal of good organization and allows
attendees to meet other commitments.
 In fact, one solution for improving
meetings is simply telling people when
the meeting will end.

Agenda questions

A productive agenda should answer
three key questions:
1) What do we need to do in this meeting to
accomplish our goals?
 2) What conversations will be of the
greatest importance to all the participants?
 3) What information must be available in
order to have those conversations?

Conducting and participating in
meetings

Whether you’re conducting a meeting or
just participating, there are behaviors of
which you should be aware.
Keeping the meeting on track:
A good meeting is not a series of
dialogues between individual members
and the leader.
 Instead, it’s a cross-flow of discussion
and debate, with the leader occasionally
guiding, mediating, probing, stimulating,
and summarizing, but mostly letting the
others thrash out their ideas.

Leader jobs
That’s why it’s important for leaders to
avoid being so domineering that they
close off suggestions.
 Of course, they must not be so passive
that they lose control of the group.

More leader responsibilities

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You’re responsible for keeping the meeting moving
along.
If the discussion lags, call on those who haven’t been
heard from.
Pace the presentation and discussion so that you have
time to finish the agenda.
As time begins to run out, interrupt the discussion and
summarize what has been accomplished.
However, don’t be too rigid. Allow time for discussion,
and give people a chance to raise issues.
Follow Parliamentary Procedure:

One way you can improve the
productivity of a meeting is by using
parliamentary procedure, a time-tested
method for planning and running
effective meetings.
What can it do?

Used correctly, it can help teams:
Transact business efficiently
 Protect individual rights
 Maintain order
 Preserve a spirit of harmony
 Accomplish team and organizational goals.

Robert’s Rules of Order
The most common guide to
parliamentary procedure is Robert’s
Rules of Order, available in various
editions and revisions.
 Also available are less technical guides
based on “Robert’s Rules”.
 You can determine how strictly you want
to adhere to parliamentary procedure.

Encourage participation:
As the meeting gets underway, you’ll discover
that some participants are too quiet and others
are too talkative.
 To draw out the shy types, ask on their input
on issues that pertain to them. You might say
something like, “May, you’ve done a lot of work
in this area. What do you think?”
 For the overly talkative, simply say that time is
limited and others need to be heard from.

The best meetings
The best meetings are those in which
everyone participates, so don’t let one or
two people dominate your meetings
while one or two doodle on notepads.
 As you move through your agenda, stop
at the end of each item, summarize what
you understand to be the feelings of the
group, and state the important points
made during the discussion.

For participants

Try to contribute to both the subject of the
meeting and the smooth interaction of the
participants.
 Use your listening skills and powers of
observation to size up the interpersonal
dynamics of the people, and then adapt your
behavior to help the group achieve its goals.
 Speak up if you have something useful to say,
but don’t monopolize the discussion.
Close and follow up:

At the conclusion of the meeting, tie up the
loose ends.
 Either summarize the general conclusion of
the group or list the suggestions.
 Wrapping things up ensures that all
participants agree on the outcome and gives
people a chance to clear up any
misunderstandings.
 Before the meeting breaks up, briefly review
who has agreed to do what by what date.
Be sure to follow up
As soon as possible after the meeting,
make sure all of the participants receive
a copy of the minutes or the notes,
showing recommended actions,
schedules and responsibilities.
 The minutes will remind everyone of
what took place and will provide
reference for future actions.
