You're listening to Business English Pod, the Business English podcast for professionals on the move.
Hello, and welcome back to Business English Pod.
My name's Edwin, and I'll be your host for this episode on making the most of your meetings.
So, have you ever announced a meeting and seen people roll their eyes?
Oh no, not another meeting, they seem to be saying.
But every organization needs meetings.
They are important when we need to discuss an issue, share information, plan or make decisions.
The problem is that not every meeting is an effective meeting.
In fact, there are some good reasons why a lot of people consider meetings a waste of time.
So the question is, how can you run a meeting that people come out of feeling positive?
How can we make the most of our meetings?
Running a good meeting requires both leadership and tact.
You need to guide the group towards its goals and keep the meeting on track.
Today, we'll talk about how you can do this.
We'll look at how to keep the discussion moving and how to focus on the issues rather than on people or items that aren't on the agenda.
In this lesson, we'll listen in on a meeting at a company that is dealing with unhappy staff.
Tony, Annette and Jake are managers, and they're trying to figure out exactly what the problem is.
The meeting is being run by Liz, who has been brought in from another department to help out.
You will hear Liz use several techniques to keep the meeting on track.
As you listen, try to answer the following questions.
1.
What is the purpose of this meeting?
Two, what does Jake say is an important issue?
Three, why does Annette think the employee surveys are not useful?
Okay, so let's move on to the next point for today, prioritization.
What we need to do here is decide which of these issues is the most pressing.
Yeah, well, I'm thinking that the general lack of incentives is a pretty important issue.
Come on, Tony.
An incentives program is just not going to fly.
Haven't we talked about that already?
Okay, folks, one step at a time here.
Remember, we're going to talk about feasibility at the next meeting.
For now, let's just work on prioritizing the issues.
Um, can I just say something here?
The issue of leadership.
I mean the top-down decision-making that came through pretty strong in the employee surveys.
Jake, I really wish you'd stop bringing up those surveys.
Those were from two years ago.
All right.
So, Annette, your point is that those surveys are kind of out of date, right?
Let me just throw that up on the board.
I don't know about that.
Nothing has really changed since we did those surveys.
Two years seems like a long time, but we shouldn't assume that.
If I could just stop you there for a sec Tony,
I'm getting the idea that you think those surveys are relevant.
Is that right?
Yes, that's what I'm trying to say.
But Tony, a lot has changed in two years.
We've had pretty high turnover.
Yeah, but so what?
We still can't ignore them.
Okay, everyone, take a deep breath.
Let's remember, we're not trying to reach consensus on these surveys.
We need to prioritize.
So let's try a different approach here.
Why don't we try ranking these issues?
Annette, what's your top five?
Now, let's go through the dialogue again and look at how Liz is running this meeting effectively.
We actually begin in the middle of the meeting.
So let's move on to the next point for today, prioritization.
What we need to do here is decide which of these issues is the most pressing.
Every meeting should have an agenda or list of items to be discussed.
And when you run a meeting, you should make sure that you move the discussion along from point to point.
This is what Liz is doing.
She says, let's move on or proceed to the next point.
And she clearly states that the point is prioritization of the issues.
There are several different ways we can keep the discussion moving.
Listen to how this is done in these examples.
Now for the next item on our agenda.
Great.
So the next point we need to discuss are the sales projections.
Nothing more to add?
OK, let's go on to the report from HR.
Moving right along, we need to make some decisions about the Christmas party.
Now let's hear how the discussion continues.
Yeah, well, I'm thinking that the general lack of incentives is a pretty important issue.
Come on, Tony.
An incentives program is just not going to fly.
Haven't we talked about that already?
Okay, folks.
One step at a time here.
Remember, we're going to talk about feasibility at the next meeting.
For now, let's just work on prioritizing the issues.
Tony expresses his opinion that a lack of incentives is an important issue.
But Annette disagrees.
She says that an incentives program is not going to fly or be successful.
The topic of what is and isn't possible, or feasibility, is a different issue than prioritization.
This is why Liz says one step at a time.
She wants the group to deal only with prioritizing the issues and reminds the group that they will discuss feasibility at the next meeting.
This is what we call tabling an issue.
When we table an issue, we save it for another time or meeting.
Tabling items that are not on the agenda is an important part of keeping a meeting focused.
How else can we do this?
Henry, that's a great point and I'm going to put it on the agenda for the next meeting.
If we can hold off discussing that issue until tomorrow.
That's definitely something we need to discuss.
Let's add it to our list and tackle it next week.
We seem to be getting a bit sidelined here.
Let's save the topic of employee benefits for next time.
What happens next?
Um, can I just say something here?
The issue of leadership – I mean the top-down decision-making – that came through pretty strong in the employee surveys.
Jake, I really wish you'd stop bringing up those surveys.
Those were from two years ago.
In Jake's opinion, an important issue is leadership and top-down decision-making.
This means that decisions happen at the top or with the highest people in the company, and that people lower down are not involved in decision making.
Jake says that this issue came through, or was communicated, in employee surveys.
Annette's response is quite negative.
She tells Jake to stop mentioning, or bringing up, as she says, the surveys.
Notice that Annette sounds irritated at Jake himself, not just the idea.
So how does Liz deal with this?
All right.
So, Annette, your point is that those surveys are kind of out of date, right?
Let me just throw that up on the board.
Liz is trying to put the focus on ideas rather than people.
She asks Annette to confirm that her idea is that the surveys are out of date or no longer useful.
Liz wants to throw that up on the board.
We can imagine here that Liz is using a whiteboard to record the group's work, and writing an idea on the board helps to take the focus off who had the idea.
Let's practice some more examples of how to focus on ideas rather than people.
So what you're saying is that Jeff's solution might have some drawbacks, correct?
If I can just summarise, you don't agree with the idea that the ad campaign has been a failure.
Let's forget about who suggested it.
I'd like to talk about whether it would work.
Now that's something I can put in the plus column here, right?
Now listen as the discussion continues.
I don't know about that.
Nothing has really changed since we did those surveys.
Two years seems like a long time, but we shouldn't assume that.
If I could just stop you there for a sec Tony,
I'm getting the idea that you think those surveys are relevant.
Is that right?
Tony responds to Annette's idea by saying, I don't know about that.
He's expressing doubt and begins to explain why he thinks two years is not a long time ago.
But he doesn't finish his explanation because Liz interrupts him.
This is something that must be done carefully, or tactfully, as we say, because we don't want people to feel that they're not given a fair chance to talk.
To do this, Liz says, if I could just stop you there for a sec.
Using a sentence with if certainly makes the interruption softer.
So does using a person's name and informal or minimizing phrases like for a sec.
Listen in the following examples of tactful interruption.
Notice the different expressions that show politeness or softening.
If I can just cut in here for a minute.
Excuse me, but I've got one thing to add there.
I'm sorry.
May I interrupt for a second?
You're so right, Jim.
And if I can stop you there, there's something I'd just like to clarify.
Liz has asked Tony to confirm that she understands correctly.
Let's hear how he responds.
Yes, that's what I'm trying to say.
But Tony, a lot has changed in two years.
We've had pretty high turnover.
Yeah, but so what?
We still can't ignore them.
Tony confirms Liz's statement.
But Annette still refused to believe that the employee surveys are useful.
She says the company has had a lot of turnover since they were done.
This means that a lot of employees have left and new ones been hired.
Tony begins to defend his idea.
But again, he doesn't finish because Liz cuts in.
Let's hear how.
Okay, everyone, take a deep breath.
Let's remember, we're not trying to reach consensus on these surveys.
We need to prioritize.
So let's try a different approach here.
Why don't we try ranking these issues?
Annette, what's your top five?
Liz senses that the group is getting away from the issue of prioritizing.
For this reason, she tells everyone to take a deep breath or calm down.
The purpose, Liz says, is not to reach consensus on the surveys, which means come to a complete agreement.
Instead, they need to prioritize.
And to do this, Liz decides to try a different approach, asking everyone to rank the issues.
Ineffective meetings often lack focus, which is why the person running the meeting has to take control.
Let's hear some other ways we can do this.
We could talk about this for hours, but we really need to make some decisions.
If we can save the storytelling for the break, let's focus on the issue at hand.
Okay, everyone.
I really think we should concentrate on the current crisis.
Now let's practice some of the language we've learned for focusing on ideas rather than people.
You'll hear a statement.
Then you'll hear a prompt.
Use the words in the prompt to focus on the idea, not the person.
For example, if you hear... John, you always suggest the most expensive solutions.
So, saying, can't afford...
You can say, We'll play example answers after the practice.
Ready?
Let's give it a go.
Nick isn't the one we should be talking to for marketing advice.
Suggesting Ask Expert Answer So, you're suggesting that we ask an expert?
Betty, you're so negative all the time.
The project wasn't all that bad.
Opinion Project Success Answer.
So in your opinion, the project was a success?
Seriously, Pat?
You want to hire a guy with no experience?
Mean Think Experience Important Answer So what you mean is that you think experience is important?
Was that Tanya's idea?
Do you really think we can double sales?
Who Not important Increase Possible Answer.
Who is not important.
Is the increase possible?
Now let's practice useful vocabulary and idioms.
You'll hear a series of sentences with a word replaced with a beep.
Repeat the whole sentence saying the missing word.
For example, if you hear...
Sorry Todd, but I really don't think that idea is going to.
You can say Sorry Todd, but I really don't think that idea is going to fly.
We'll play the correct answer after each question.
Let's begin.
OK, let's all take a deep... and try this again.
Answer.
Okay, let's all take a deep breath and try this again.
We need a new computer system because ours is out of... Answer.
We need a new computer system because ours is out of date.
Answer.
We can get this project done if we take it one step at a...
Answer.
We can get this project done if we take it one step at a time.
We've reached the end of this episode, the first in a two-part series about making meetings work.
We've learned how to move the discussion forward, table non-agenda items and ask people to focus.
We've also looked at interrupting tactfully and focusing on ideas rather than people.
But there are lots more ways you can make meetings more effective.
So be sure to tune in to the next episode, when we'll learn about pushing for clarity, encouraging quiet people, praising good work and more.
Thanks for listening, and see you again soon.
