Quick Communication Check Unit 3

Asking for and giving clarification

Complete the dialogue with the words from the box.

understand exactly instance example specific want

A: What (a)_____ do you mean?

B: What I (b)_____ to say is all the costs are too high.

A: Could you give an (c)_____?

B: Yes, the advertising for (d)_____.

A: I’m sure I (e)_____.

B: The figures show the costs are too high.

A: Can you be more (f)_____?

B: Yes, I think we pay about $5,000 too much for magazine advertising every month.

Delaying decisions

Suggest answers to the following questions using the prompts.

1. Can we reach a decision today? (No/think/need/more time)

2. Have we finished this discussion? (No/think/need/arrange/another meeting)

3. Can you give us the information we need? (No/need/prepare/more details)

4. Have we finished? (No/have/other important issues/talk about)

5. Can we move to the next item for discussion? (Yes/but/cannot make/decision yet; need more time)

Ending a meeting

Finish the following sentences (1-9) with the correct ending (a-i).

1. I’d like to a. happy with what we have talked about!

2. Can we arrange b. summarizing the meeting.

3. Does anyone c. summarize what we have agreed on.

4. We’ll contact d. from you again soon.

5. We’ll produce a report e. has been a good one. Thank you, everyone.

6. We look forward to hearing f. another meeting soon?

7. Is everyone g. all for today.

8. So I think the meeting h. have anything else to say?

9. That’s all i) you again next week.

Quick Communication Check Units 1-3

Six Tips for More Effective Meetings

Read the following tips on how to have more effective meeting. Make a summary of each tip by filling in the table after the text.

1) Don't Meet

Avoid a meeting if the same information could be covered in a memo, e-mail or brief report. One of the keys to having more effective meetings is differentiating between the need for one-way information dissemination and two-way information sharing. To disseminate information you can use a variety of other communication media, such as sending an e-mail or posting the information on your company's intranet. If you want to be certain you have delivered the right message, you can schedule a meeting to simply answer questions about the information you have sent. By remembering to ask yourself, "Is a meeting the best way to handle this?" you'll cut down on wasted meeting time and restore your group's belief that the meetings they attend are necessary.

Set Objectives for the Meeting

Set objectives before the meeting! Before planning the agenda for the meeting, write down a phrase or several phrases to complete the sentence: By the end of the meeting, I want the group to… Depending on the focus of your meeting, your ending to the sentence might include phrases such as: …be able to list the top three features of our newest product, …have generated three ideas for increasing our sales, …understand the way we do business with customers, …leave with an action plan, …decide on a new widget supplier, or …solve the design problem.

One benefit of setting objectives for the meeting is to help you plan the meeting. The more concrete your meeting objectives, the more focused your agenda will be. A second important benefit of having specific objectives for each meeting is that you have a concrete measure against which you can evaluate that meeting. Were you successful in meeting the objectives? Why or why not? Is another meeting required? Setting meeting objectives allows you to continuously improve your effective meeting process.

Provide an Agenda Beforehand

Provide all participants with an agenda before the meeting starts. Your agenda needs to include a brief description of the meeting objectives, a list of the topics to be covered and a list stating who will address each topic and for how long. When you send the agenda, you should include the time, date and location of the meeting and any background information participants will need to know to hold an informed discussion on the meeting topic. What's the most important thing you should do with your agenda? Follow it closely!

Assign Meeting Preparation

Give all participants something to prepare for the meeting, and that meeting will take on a new significance to each group member. For problem-solving meetings, have the group read the background information necessary to get down to business in the meeting. Ask each group member to think of one possible solution to the problem to get everyone thinking about the meeting topic. For example, to start a sales meeting on a positive note, have all participants recall their biggest success since the last meeting and ask one person to share his success with the group. For less formal meetings or brainstorming sessions, ask a trivia question related to the meeting topic and give the correct answer in the first few minutes of the meeting. These tips are sure-fire ways to warm up the group and direct participants' attention to the meeting objectives.

Assign Action Items

Don't finish any discussion in the meeting without deciding how to act on it. Listen for key comments that flag potential action items and don't let them pass by without addressing them during your meeting. Statements such as We should really …, that's a topic for a different meeting …, or I wonder if we could … are examples of comments that should trigger action items to get a task done, hold another meeting or further examine a particular idea. Assigning tasks and projects as they arise during the meeting means that your follow-through will be complete. Addressing off-topic statements during the meeting in this way also allows you to keep the meeting on track. By immediately addressing these statements with the suggestion of making an action item to examine the issue outside of the current meeting, you show meeting participants that you value their input as well as their time.

Examine Your Meeting Process

Assign the last few minutes of every meeting as time to review the following questions: What worked well in this meeting? What can we do to improve our next meeting? Every participant should briefly provide a point-form answer to these questions. Answers to the second question should be phrased in the form of a suggested action. For example, if a participant's answer is stated as Jim was too long-winded, ask the participant to re-phrase the comment as an action. The statement We should be more to-the-point when stating our opinions is a more constructive suggestion. Remember – don't leave the meeting without assessing what took place and making a plan to improve the next meeting!

Don't Meet	Avoid a meeting if the same information could be covered in a memo, e-mail or brief report. A meeting should be set up only if there’s a need in two-way information sharing.
Set Objectives for the Meeting
Provide an Agenda Beforehand
Assign Meeting Preparation
Assign Action Items
Examine Your Meeting Process

Summary

Meetings

In a meeting, two or more people come together for the purpose of discussing a (usually) predetermined topic such as business or community event planning, often in a formal setting.

In addition to coming together physically (in real life, face to face), communication lines and equipment can also be set up to have a discussion between people at different locations, e.g. a conference call or an e-meeting.

Meetings are vital for management and communication. Properly run meetings save time, increase motivation, productivity, and solve problems. Meetings create new ideas and initiatives. Meetings diffuse conflict in a way that emails and memos cannot. Meetings are effective because the written word only carries 7% of the true meaning and feeling. Meetings are better than telephone conferences because only 38% of the meaning and feeling is carried in the way that things are said. The other 55% of the meaning and feeling is carried in facial expression and non-verbal signals. That's why meetings are so useful.

The main types of meetings are:

· Decision making meeting

· Information giving meeting

· Problem solving meeting

Meetings also fall into several categories, the most common of which are:

2) Work Meetings, which produce a product or intangible result such as a decision

3) Staff meeting – typically a meeting between a manager and those that report to the manager (possibly indirectly).

4) Team meeting – a meeting among colleagues working on various aspects of a team project.

5) Ad-hoc meeting – a meeting called together for a special purpose

6) Management meeting – a meeting among managers

7) Board meeting – a meeting of the Board of directors of an organization

8) Annual general meeting (AGM) -is an annual meeting that official bodies are often required by law to hold. It is an opportunity for the shareholders and partners to receive copies of the company's accounts as well as reviewing fiscal information for the past year and asking any questions regarding the decisions the business will take in the future

9) One to one meeting – a meeting between two individuals

10) Off-site meeting – also called " offsite retreat " or " retreat " and known as an Awayday meeting in the UK

11) Kick-off Meeting – is the first meeting with the project team and the client of the project to discuss the role of each team member

The choice of structure and style in running an effective meeting is hugely dependent on several factors:

• the situation (circumstances, mood, atmosphere, background, etc)
• the organisational context (the implications and needs of the business or project or organisation)
• the needs and interests of those attending
• the aims of the meeting.

Meeting aims include:

· giving information

· training

· discussion

· generating ideas

· planning

· workshops

· consulting and getting feedback

· crisis management

· setting targets and objectives

· setting tasks and delegating

· making decisions

· motivating

· finding solutions/solving problems

· performance reporting/assessment

· special subjects – guest speakers

Meetings consist of a chairperson and participants. Both have specific responsibilities to guarantee that a meeting is effective. A combination of language and general communication skills is essential.

Chairperson	Participants

Structure

Meetings generally follow a more or less similar structure and can be divided into the following parts:

Дата добавления: 2015-10-24