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Podcast number 756 Holding Structured and Unstructured Meetings.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 756.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
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This episode is a dialogue between Maya and Diego about having business meetings.
Let's get started.
Okay, why don't you brief me on what you've planned for the meeting tomorrow?
Sure.
At the meeting of the managers tomorrow, we'll begin with introductions.
Since you're the most senior manager, the job falls to you.
I don't think we need to stand on ceremony.
Have Alexei do the introductions.
All right.
Then we'll follow the agenda and discuss each item of business.
I have you down to lead the discussions.
I don't think we need the meeting to be so structured.
If we follow the agenda point by point, we'll never find out what's really on the minds of the managers.
What issues they think are of paramount importance.
I think I'll open the floor to anyone who wants to raise an issue.
When that turn into a free-for-all, I'm not sure we'll get much accomplished.
Sometimes it's not as important to accomplish something as it is to take the pulse of the group.
If we want to know what issues are on the managers' minds, we first need to let the managers speak freely.
Agreed?
Uh, sure.
You're the boss.
Should I also cancel the lunch I've ordered so you can make up your minds about food later?
Absolutely not.
The one thing that's not open for discussion is what I'm eating for lunch.
Our dialogue begins with Diego saying OK, why don't you brief me on what you've planned for the meeting tomorrow?
To brief B-R-I-E-F someone on something means to give them very quickly the most important information.
Usually when there isn't a lot of time, we use this expression.
Tell me just the most important things I need to know.
Of course, the word brief as an adjective means to be short.
Here we use it as a verb, meaning to give me information quickly.
Maya says, sure.
Meaning we'll find out the name and the job of everyone there at the meeting.
Maya says, Since you, Diego, are the most senior manager, the job falls to you.
Senior means the one with the most experience here.
It can also mean older, but here in a company setting, the senior executives are those who have the most experience.
Those are often the ones who are the oldest as well.
The job falls to you, Maya says.
To fall to someone means to be your responsibility because of the way the rules or expectations are in this organization.
This job falls to you.
It's your job, your responsibility.
You have to do it.
Diego says, I don't think we need to stand on ceremony.
The expression to stand on ceremony means to be very formal, to not be casual, to follow all of the rules.
But even though Diego is the senior manager, he doesn't want to follow the tradition of him doing the work.
He suggests Alexi do the introductions.
Maya says, all right.
Then we'll follow the agenda and discuss each item of business.
An agenda, A-G-E-N-D-A, is a written plan about what you are going to talk about in a meeting.
First, you're going to talk about this.
Then you're going to talk about that.
Usually, If it's a business meeting, you have a piece of paper that tells you, in order, the things that you're going to talk about at that meeting, especially if it's a very formal meeting.
Maya says they're going to discuss each item of business.
At a meeting, an item of business... is any topic or subject that's going to be discussed.
It doesn't have to be actually related to business.
You could have a formal meeting for an organization at your church or an organization in your community.
And if you have a meeting of the leaders, of the directors—
You might have different things on the agenda.
Each one of those would be an item of business, even though we're not talking about a business like making money.
I have you down means I have written down, I have put your name on a piece of paper, or I have your commitment or I know that you are going to do this thing.
But Diego says, I don't think we need the meeting to be so structured.
The title of this episode is Having or Holding Structured and Unstructured Meetings.
Structured would be something that is planned very carefully.
First you do this, then you do that.
You follow the rules of a formal meeting very carefully and everything is planned.
Diego says, if we follow the agenda point by point, we'll never find out what's really on the minds of the managers.
Point-by-point means one thing at a time, one item of business at a time.
Diego says that if we hold the meeting, if we conduct the meeting this way, we won't really find out what the managers at the meeting are thinking, what is on their minds, which means what are they thinking?
Diego wants to find out what the managers think is of paramount importance.
Paramount, P-A-R-M-O-U-N-T, means extremely important, more important than anything else.
If someone says this is of paramount importance, they mean it is very important, highly important.
Diego says I think I'll open the floor to anyone who wants to raise an issue.
To open the floor is when the leader of a meeting says anyone can now speak about whatever topic they want to talk about.
That would be a very unstructured meeting, a meeting that wasn't planned carefully.
Diego says he'll open the floor to anyone who wants to raise an issue.
To raise an issue means to mention a concern or a worry that hasn't yet been discussed, or to ask a question about something that hasn't been discussed.
Maya said, wouldn't that turn the meeting into a free for all?
The expression free for F-O-R.
All A-L-L means to have a situation where everyone is talking at the same time.
It's very disorganized, not just unstructured but lacking any sort of organization, being not very productive because everyone's talking at the same time.
Maya says, I'm not sure we'll get much accomplished.
We'll get a lot of things done.
Diego says, sometimes it's not as important to accomplish something as it is to take the pulse of the group.
The expression to take the pulse P-U-L-S-E means to understand the way people are thinking or to understand the current situation, especially as it relates to people's feelings and opinions.
Literally, in your body your pulse is the blood that is going through your body.
You can measure your pulse in a couple of different places.
Inside of your wrist, at the end of your arm is one place.
But as an expression.
To take the pulse of a group of people means to get a good idea about what they are feeling and thinking.
Diego says, if we want to know what issues are on the manager's minds, we first need to let the managers speak freely.
To speak freely means to speak openly, usually not to have to worry that you are going to be criticized, to speak without having to worry about how the other people perhaps are reacting.
Diego says agreed, meaning, do you agree with me, Maya?
Maya says, uh, sure.
You're the boss.
You're the person in charge.
Should I also cancel the lunch I've ordered so you can make up your minds about food later?
To make up your mind means to decide, to make a decision.
Maya is saying, well, maybe we shouldn't have a planned lunch.
You guys can just decide what you want to eat later.
Diego says, absolutely not.
The one thing that's not open for discussion is what I'm eating for lunch.
So Diego is willing to have people talk about whatever they want.
But when it comes to lunch, deciding what he's going to eat, he's going to make a decision.
To be open for discussion means that people can give their opinions.
It hasn't been decided yet.
When it's not open for discussion, a decision has already been made and apparently Diego has made a decision about what he wants and everyone else will eat for lunch.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Okay, why don't you brief me on what you've planned for the meeting tomorrow?
Sure.
At the meeting of the managers tomorrow, we'll begin with introductions.
Since you're the most senior manager, the job falls to you.
I don't think we need to stand on ceremony.
Have Alexi do the introductions.
All right.
Then we'll follow the agenda and discuss each item of business.
I have you down to lead the discussions.
I think I'll open the floor to anyone who wants to raise an issue.
Wouldn't that turn into a free-for-all?
I'm not sure we'll get much accomplished.
Sometimes it's not as important to accomplish something as it is to take the pulse of the group.
If we want to know what issues are on the manager's minds, we first need to let the manager speak freely.
Agreed?
Sure.
You're the boss.
Should I also cancel the lunch I've ordered so you can make up your minds about food later?
Sure.
Absolutely not.
The one thing that's not open for discussion is what I'm eating for lunch.
The job of scriptwriter here at the Center falls to the best scriptwriter in the world of podcasting, Dr Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2012 by the Center for Educational Development.
