On occasions you may need to have one-to-one meeting either with your own manager or with other people. In this situation the dynamic is very different. The mood may be jolly or reflective but there is no getting away from the intensity. In a one-to-one meeting there is literally nowhere to hide. You can?t sit back and hope that someone else will contribute or skirt around questions; suddenly the spotlight is on you, whether it?s to make a comment or to laugh at a joke.
One-to-one meetings can be formal or informal. You might be discussing your personal targets for the coming year in one meeting, and your preferences for the
Christmas lunch in another. Although there may be an agenda, it is unlikely that there will be a minute taker, although someone might be present to take notes if the meeting concerns a disciplinary issue. There are some benefits to one-to-one meetings over larger meetings. They are:
a) fewer people should mean a faster conclusion
b) confidential discussion can take place
c) builds a personal relationship between the two participants
d) can be called quickly ? literally whenever the participants are free to meet.
F) Brainstorming meetings
Brainstorming is a useful way of generating creative ideas in meetings. What is the best way to generate as many ideas as possible? Look the following points and decide whether they are the ones you should keep in your mind for a successful brainstorming meeting:
1) A group of people is more creative than an individual working alone.
2) People think more creatively in a relaxed atmosphere.
3) It isn?t necessary to have a leader at a brainstorming meeting.
4) Everyone should feel that their opinions are value
5) Criticism kills creativity
6) Discuss each idea as it arises up.
7) Write all ideas on a board or flipchart.
8) Don?t bother to write down stupid things.
9) Continue the session until there are no more ideas.
For an efficient brainstorming meeting you should follow these ideas:
1) Explain the purpose of the meeting clearly.
2) Ask each person to speak in turn/
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3) Announce the time limit for the meeting
4) Avoid criticizing or judging ideas during the session.
5) Encourage ideas, however unusual they may be.
6) Don?t interrupt when people are offering suggestions
7) Make sure everyone keeps to the point
8) Don?t spend time on details.
A SAMPLE OF A BRAINSTORMING MEETING (FOR SELF-STUDYING)
Exercise 1. Read the first part of an authentic brainstorming meeting between three members of the Marketing Department at Business Solutions Limited.
Then answer these questions.
1. What is the purpose of the meeting?
2. What types of promotion are mentioned by participants?
Paul:
OK, thanks for coming along this morning. As I said in my e-mail, the purpose of the meeting this morning is for us to brainstorm ideas, promotional activities that we are going to carry out to make sure that the launch of the Business Solutions website is a success from the start. I?m going to open up to you to come up with the ideas you?ve formulated over the past couple of weeks. Anything goes, we?ve got no budget at the
moment but you know, fire away.
Stephanie:
Oh great. No budget constraints.
Courtney:
That?s great. Television and radio.
Stephanie:
Well, it?s starting big.
Paul:
Excellent.
Courtney:
Well, we haven?t got a budget , but I think we could reach a wide audience, something like that, and ? we could focus on some of the big
sort of business financial network television if we want to reach a global
market if that?s what we?re working to do and extending to all areas I think.
Stephanie:
Yeah, that?s been quite unsuccessful for some of the banks and stuff.
Paul:
That?s right, but definitely focused on advertising.
Courtney:
Focused on specific networks that would reach, that you know? Businessmen are watching network television.
Stephanie:
Well, I?ve been working more on cheaper solutions than that just in case there are budget problems. I thought we could do some effective online promotion, which is actually very cheap, and I think we should aim to do anyway. Direct mailing but also register the site effectively with search engines so anybody who goes onto the Internet and is looking for business solutions would come up with our website.
Courtney:
Yeah, we should definitely do some of that.
Paul:
Absolutely, yes.
Courtney:
What about press advertising, traditional newspapers, business magazines and journals?
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Paul:
Yes.
Courtney:
Yes, great, I mean we?ve done that very effectively in the past.
Paul:
Yes, we?ve had some very good response rates to for the ads we?ve placed before.
Stephanie:
Yes, and that could be something we could do, not just once but a kind of campaign over a period of time.
Courtney:
Yes, build it up.
Paul:
Yep, use a campaign, OK.
Exercise 2 Read the second part of the meeting and answer these questions:
1) What other ideas for promoting the website are mentioned by participants?
2) When is the next meeting? What information will the participants get then?
Stephanie:
And then, going back to cheaper solutions, we could use the contact base we?ve got, the market research we?ve been doing for this new website. We?ve got some very good contacts where I think we could sent out glossy brochures, maybe a CD demonstration, CD ROM demonstration of the site to human resource manages, training managers.
Courtney:
Yes, that?s a good idea
Paul:
Great.
Stephanie:
As we?ve already got contacts with lots of those and I?m sure we should.
Courtney:
?exploit them.
Stephanie:
Yeah, we could build that up.
Paul:
Yes.
Stephanie:
And direct mail them.
Paul:
With information packs or??
Stephanie:
Yeah, we could do a big either CD ROM walk-through as part of a glossy brochure pack. That might be one way and ? or information brochure if we didn?t have so much money.
Courtney:
Yeah, would it be worth it sponsoring some kind of event, I don?t know?
Stephanie:
Oh, yeah.
Courtney:
You know, inviting the real movers and shakers of art, you know, are target customers, the ones we can count.
Stephanie:
It would be great to do a presentation maybe on a boat going up the river or something. That would get the press in.
Paul:
Yes.
Courtney:
Yes.
Paul:
That?s a good idea Courtney, excellent. OK, What are the other areas of press advertising could we do, do you think, I mean, you know, we?ve done bill board advertising before but ?
Stephanie:
Bill boards, what about that?
Courtney:
I don?t know.
Stephanie:
I hadn?t thought of that for this but?
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Courtney:
I don?t know what the costs are related to that, I think we would have to look at that. Underground, airports, maybe some of them.
Paul:
Yep, OK, well, I?m going to wrap the meeting up now.
We?ve come up with some really good ideas, we?ve got TV, radio advertising, obviously that?s going to be dependent on the budget we?ve actually set at the end of the day. Online promotion which is cheaper but obviously we?ve got certainly have some degree of online promotion. Press advertising, business journals, billboards, maybe depending on the budget again. The contacts with human resources departments, definitely, I mean that?s an area that we?ve really got to explore and certainly a sponsorship of a major event to tie into the launch would be a great idea.
Courtney:
OK, so when will we meet next?
Paul:
I think we?re scheduled for three week?s time.
Stephanie:
Yes, that?s right.
Paul:
By which time we?ll have more of an idea of the sort of budget that we?re working with.
Stephanie:
Shall we cost some of these things and see?So that we can..?
Courtney:
I?ve got some research I can look at.
Stephanie:
OK, then we?ll bring that to the next meeting.
Paul:
Great.
Stephanie:
Great.
Courtney:
OK.
Stephanie:
OK, thanks.
Exercise 3. An HR director introduces a meeting with other members of the HR team about a new performance-related pay system for the company. Read for the answer to the question: What is the purpose of this morning?s meeting?
Director:
Right, can we start? ... Good morning, everyone. Thanks for coming to this meeting. Do you all know Harriet Blofeld, my new personal assistant.
Harriet:
Hello, everyone.
Director:
Harriet will take the minutes of the meeting, if you all agree.
Director:
Well ? let me explain the background. As you know, we have created a new management model with a flatter hierarchy. Staff works in small project teams which are highly customer-focused. With no managerial positions, that means there are fewer prospects for promotion. We need to motivate staff by offering a different kind of reward. We?ve already decided to set up a performance-related pay system in which staff receives higher pay for achieving their targets. The question is: which method should we choose? Specifically, we?ve got three objectives. First, to examine the different reward schemes, to see how each one
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would work and to give you a chance to ask questions. Second, to decide on the most effective scheme for the company. And third, to prepare a proposal for the Board. Now we have to finish by 12 o?clock today, so the purpose of this morning?s meeting is simply to look at the different options. We?ll leave the decision till next morning.
Right. Now Joanna has done some research into performance-related reward scheme. Joanna, would you like to start by explaining the different opinions ?.?
Discussing the reading. Talk about your answers to these questions:
1. Have you ever been to one of the meetings mentioned above? When was it?
2. Was it a waste of time?
3. What do you enjoy and dislike about meetings?
4. How do you feel about speaking at a small meeting ? and at a larger one?
5. Here are twelve opinions about meetings: put a tick(v) beside the ones you agree with and a cross (x) beside the ones you disagree with.
a) More time is wasted at meetings that in any other business activity ?.. _______
b) The purpose of meetings is to decide when the next one will take place. ?______
c) A meeting is a group of people who can decide nothing alone and
who decide together that nothing can be done. ??_______
d) It?s better to send everyone a memo about a new procedure than to
have a meeting about it. ???_______
e) Meetings help everyone to feel personally involved in decision-making. ?______
f) It?s better for the boss to make a decision than to have a meeting. ??._______
g) The most important person at a meeting is the chairperson. ??_______
h) The most important piece of paper at a meeting is the agenda?????_______
i) Most meetings are unnecessary, they are just a way of making people
think they are important. ?_______
j) It?s better to talk to each person individually than to have a meeting. ?..________
k) A meeting may be the only chance the members of a group actually
have to see each other face to face. ?.______
l) Meetings lead to better decisions, because of the exchange of ideas. ?.. _______
