Bussiness Communication - Assignment 3
What is a meeting?
Generally, a meeting
refers to three or more people who is coming together to share common
objectives through the use of verbal and written communication.
The purpose of meetings
Meetings are an important
organisational tool as they can be used to:
• Pool and develop ideas
• Plan
• Solve problems
• Make decisions
• Create and develop understanding
• Encourage enthusiasm and initiative
• Provide a sense of direction
• Create a common purpose
Components of Meetings
Components of Meetings
A meeting can be
divided into the following three main components:
Content
is
the knowledge, information, experience, expertise, opinions, ideas, attitudes
and expectations that each individual brings to a meeting.
Interaction
is the way in which the participants work together to deal with the content of
a meeting. This includes the feelings,
attitudes and expectations of the participants which have a direct bearing on
co-operation, listening, participation and trust.
Structure
is
the way in which both the information and the participants are organised to
achieve the purpose/objectives of the meeting.
Types of Meetings
There are many
different types of meetings; here we focus on those used to:
1.
Inform
2.
Consult
3.
Solve problems
4.
Make decisions
Here are 5 simple steps for more efficient, effective meetings:
1) Spend twice
as much time on the agenda as you normally would. One problem commonly afflicting meetings is
unclear objectives. If you're not exactly sure what you're trying
to accomplish, you can be sure it won't happen quickly. As meeting
organizer, it's your responsibility to have clarity about objectives.
Consult with another team member if you need to; a little extra time at the
front end will save more time at the back end.
2) Spend twice
as much time on the attendee list as you normally would. Ask yourself, carefully: Do all of these
people really need to attend? Or could
some of them just receive a brief email summary or quick call
afterward? If you can reduce a half-hour meeting list by, say, four
people whose presence isn't essential, that's two hours of productive time
effortlessly returned to the company.
3) Schedule
the meeting for the half the time you originally intended to. Meetings are like accordions - they stretch
naturally to fill the allotted space. If you schedule a meeting for an
hour, you'll probably take the whole time, even if a fair amount consists of
amiable, random off-topic conversation. In all likelihood if you
schedule that same meeting for 30 minutes, you'll do what you need to in the
tighter time period. When I was in the corporate world I routinely halved
meeting times and was seldom disappointed. Try two-hour meetings at one
hour, one hour meetings at 30 minutes, and 30 minute meetings at
15. My strong suspicion is they'll work out fine.
4) Don't start 1 second late.
Way too much time is wasted on late arrivals. It used to make me
crazy that certain people would be habitually late, thus regularly wasting some
5 to 10 minutes for the entire group - and penalizing the punctual. The
simple solution? Don't wait for latecomers. Start the insant
you're scheduled to. Soon enough people will get the idea... no one likes
to be embarrassed by straggling in during the middle of a cogent
discussion. Do this a few times and you'll develop a reputation for
promptness. I knew numerous (though not enough) managers who had
super-punctual reputations and they were respected for it.
5) Consider - if it's appropriate for your business needs -
holding a stand-up meeting. There's actually intriguing
research showing that stand-up
meetings can be more efficient. In one study, groups that
were standing took roughly one-third less time to make decisions than those who
were seated... with no loss in the quality of decisions. For
logistical reasons, stand-up meetings aren't always practical, but they're
worth considering.
Komentar
Posting Komentar