MEETING POINT BUSINESS SKlllS •REVIEW AND FDLLDW-UP
Könnten Ihre internationalen Meetings effizienter werden? KEN TAYLOR sagt
Ihnen, was Sie in diesem Fall unternehmen sollten.A
n international business meeting is very expensive
to run. JUSt think of the overhea ds for the employ-
ees involved - plus the COSts of traveI, hotel and con-
ference facjljties. This means that such meetings need tO
be efficient and the results need tO be effective.
Too often, we sit in meetings and wish we were some-
where else. The chairperson is weak. Some people talk
tao lang about unimportant points. Others never say a
word. Natiye speakers dominate the meeting, and it
overruns the planned time by more than an hour.
The best way to make su re that yom meetings in Eng-
lish are both efficienr and effective is to include a meet-
ing eyaluation as part of the mru!..a. Meeting ~
l2ilD.1S can be as ked to write the answers to four simple
quesrions at the end of each meeting:- How clear were the goals of the meeting?
- Did you receive the agenda jn iood time?
- Was the level of English aDDropriate?
- How satisfied were you with the result of the meeting?
Ta make life easier for everyone, you ca n ask people
tO rare rheir answers on a Kak of 1-6, where 1 is "ex-
celleor" and 6 is "vcry paar". The answers are rhen
handed in to rhe chairperson, who reports rhe resuhs in
(he minytcs of the meeting.
If you know ehat this evaluation will take place after
e\'ery mecting, it makes you want to improve your per-
formance and help mhers to do rhe samc. But you need
to prevem th is evaluation process from bccoming tOO[ ,cllairpefWfl,,"
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;
ZeitI,
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automatie. Add new
questions to the eval-
uation occasionally,
such as:- How weil did the chair-
person run the meeting? - What prevented Ihe meet-
ing from being mOle effeetive? - How was our tjmekeepjng?
- How good was the meeting room?
-
- How supportive were we of each other when speaking
in a foreign language?
Maybe you have regular international meetings with
the same group of people - a project team, for exam-
pIe. Jf so, it is sometimes good to ger a n experienced
outsider to artend one or rwo of your meetings a nd r.u.n
a process review each time.
This outsider could be eith e r a respected manager or
eommunication-skills consu[tanr, whose role is tO help
meeting parricipams diseover what they need tO cha nge
in order ro improve. He or she should act as a ~ or
menror and should always try ro get you to rake full
responsibiliry for any improvemenrs. In this way, your
meeting group can become a "learning organizar ion"
that uses rhis information ro guide its future meetings.
In business, of course, ir is important that we coneen-
trate on the "what" - the conrenrs of aay business
process. 50metimes, though, we need to rake a step back
and think about the " how" - the prQCess irself.
For cxample, how can we work befter with each oth-
er? What can we do ro improve our own personal per-
formance: T his is espccially imporranr in situations
where the participanrs have different linguistic and cul-
rural backgrounds.
So, build a review proccss into your future interna-
tional meetings and make sure that they are efficient in
rhe way they are run, as weil as effecrive in producing
good resuhs. GI1 "_) Learn more phrases al http://www.business·spotllght.deJskills
KEN TAYLOR is a partner in Axiom, a communica-
tlons cODsultancy in London (www.axiomskllls.
eom), and the author of 50 Ways to Improve Your
Business English, ISBN 9 78·3·526-5 1188-5.
Contact: [email protected]BL&nes5 SpJllight 45