I DON?T KNOW HOW TO CHAIR A MEETING!

I?ve been asked to chair a meeting about the Christmas office party. But I?m incredibly nervous as I?ve never chaired one before. Is there a secret for success?

You may never have chaired a meeting but as you?ve probably been to lots you?ll have seen it done well and badly. Think about the things that please and annoy you and build on them. Make sure everyone has the agenda well in advance, and check that you know enough about the participants and issues to be discussed. Arrange for the room to be cool rather than warm; people will be less likely to sleep.

See yourself as a referee whose job is to ensure fair play through careful watching and listening. You must ensure that the timid have a chance to say what they want; deal in a diplomatic way with the argumentative and to be kind to the person you have asked to take notes. Getting that individual on your side is essential if you want the record to reflect your desired outcomes. It?s normal to suggest what should be left out of the minutes and now any difficult bits should be phrased.

Make sure you stick to the time you have allowed for each point and keep things moving by not letting people wander off the subject. Get decisions made and recorded, even if it?s only to postpone matters until the next meeting. If someone is being difficult, defuse things by offering to continue the discussion personally at a more appropriate time.

If the meeting is likely to be more than a couple of hours long, try to include a break at the mid-point; it acts as a marker and stops people getting restless.

Aim is to leave everyone feeling they have had a chance to say what they wanted to say and gain lasting and well-deserved popularity by finishing when you said the meeting would finish.

How to start.

As a Chairperson, you have done a lot ? you have sent out a clear agenda, worked with your administrative support to set up a room with refreshments, and all the people invited have turned up except for one. You are ready to start, and you know you must start with impact- how do you now go forward in a way that demonstrates your presence?

Here are some tips:

As each person arrives, say hello and introduce yourself to anyone you don?t know, and be sure to state, ?Hello, welcome-name is Jane Goodwin and I am the Chair this afternoon?. Try to start the meeting on time even if not everyone is present- that is their problem, and bad manners (ask the minute taker to make a note of the names of anyone missing, so that you can speak with them later)

Then begin with something like ?

?Hi, everyone. Thank you for coming. As you know, we still have one or two people missing and I have one apology from Sarah Hodges who is off sick.

However, we have quite a large agenda and so I am going to start and when the others arrive they can join in. My name is Jane Goodwin and I am the Customer Care Liaison Officer and I have been asked to chair these meetings.

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To my right is Phil Norman who is acting as administrative support for these meetings and will be taking the minutes. I think it would be useful for all of us, including Phil, if we all introduce ourselves quickly before starting.?

If you have any ?rules? or ?points? you want to state, now would be a good time. For example:

? At the end of this meeting I will be arranging the date for the next meeting and therefore anyone who needs to go and fetch their diary should do so during the scheduled break. At the moment I am thinking in terms of fortnightly meetings until the project settles down. We might then move to monthly.?

Now, you are ready to move on to the items?

? Thank you. Now the first item is discussing the terms of reference of the group and also creating a behavioural charter so that we can be very clear about the focus of the group discussions and also how we, as a group, would like to operate. Let?s start with the terms of references. Mark, would you like to start us off by presenting this item??

If anyone enters either during or after beginning your speech, nod an acknowledgement but do not go back and repeat everything.

The meeting should be off and flowing with you on charge.

Remember you cannot sit back; you need to be totally focused and you may have to interject now and again.

There are three reasons for you to interject:

 You wish to move the process on.

 You want to ask a question or clarify a point

 You wish to issue some warning, calm a situation down, or issue a ?red card?

People become very excited by their own subject, which is why it can be so difficult to keep people to time. As soon as someone begins to deviate from the original topic, you need to make a fast decision. If you decide that the conversation needs to be brought back in line, you need to resume control. For example:

? I need to interject here, there is ten minutes allocated for this item, and we are already seven minutes in. Please can we come to a conclusion, and if we need to discuss the matter further, perhaps we can reallocate this item to a future agenda.?

Similarly ?

? There is clearly a considerable amount of feeling relating to this topic. Can I suggest that it is discussed further outside of this meeting and an outcome is presented later??

Chairing a meeting can be quite an onerous task because you are dealing with people, and that is never easy as they will all have their individual view on many matter

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Exercise 4. Read the test again. Then read the ?Chain-of-Information Diagram?. Compare the diagram with the original text and correct the mistakes made in the diagram ? logical order , extra information, missed information.

Chain-of-Information Diagram.

1. question: a secret for success

2. answer: a) think of your pleasant

or annoying things

b) be sure about the agenda

c) your knowledge of participants

d) your knowledge of the modern trends in business

e) issues to be discussed

3. be a referee:

watch and listen

carefully

4. give everyone a chance to speak

5. be diplomatic with disagreements

6. stick to the time

7. never pay attention to shy people

8. be kind to people wandering off the subject

9. your aim ? everyone feeling pleased to have a chance to speak

10. get decisions made and recorded

11. in dealing with difficult people show them your dissatisfaction

12. long meetings ? have a break in the mid-point

13. be strict in your behavior and speech

Exercise 5. Read the article again. Replace the following phrases in the article with the correct expressions from parts A and B above.

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Exercise 6. Match the verbs 1-7 with the nouns a)-g) that they go with.

WRITING.

Exercise 6. Do the written translation of the article ?I don?t know how to chair a meeting!? for your senior manager. He would like to have the whole of the translation.

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IT IS INTERESTING TO KNOW.

In some cultures the main role of the chairperson is to control the meeting. This may include sticking to an agenda, keeping order and making sure that the meeting does not overrun. In other cultures the function of the chairperson might be to encourage participation and agreement. What is the main function of a chairperson in meetings in your country?

PRACTICE FILE

Speaking skills

Task 1. Read the problem: Your team has completed a highly successful project, and the company?s directors have decided to give a financial reward of $10,000 to be shared among you. You have to agree how you want to use the money.

Step 1. Preparation

Read the problem again. First of all, set some objectives so you can run an efficient meeting.

For example, you should decide on the following?

a) Time: You only have 15 minutes for this meeting

b) Organization: to give each person a chance to speak?

to encourage free discussion?

to keep it short by limiting discussion?

c) How to reach a decision: to have a consensus of percent?

(e.g. 100%, 80% etc.)

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Step 2. Open the meeting

More preparation: plan how you will open the meeting to discuss the financial reward and what you will say to introduce each of the five steps given above in Task III.

Step 3. Demonstrate how you would open the meeting.

Step 4. Hold the meeting.

Choose a role. Read your role card and role-play the meeting.

Role A.

You want to spend the money on a special celebration. Suggest a dinner and night at an expensive hotel in (city of your choice). You want to invite wives/husbands/parents to the event.

Role B.

You are going to open the meeting. You think the money should be given in the form of shares in the company(stock option).

Role C.

You want to divide the cash among you so you can each spend it as you wish.

Role D.

You want to spend the money on a special training course that all of you would attend. It could be a course in marketing, negotiating or English.

Role E.

You want to spend the money on a trip. Your company?s head office is in New York and none of you has been there yet. Propose a visit.

Part 2. DIFFICULT SITUATIONS AT THE MEETING.

A. Dealing with difficult people.

Exercise 1. When we talk about dealing with difficult people, what we really mean is dealing with difficult behavior. By learning to understand what it is that makes someone else behave and talk in a difficult way, we are in a better position not only to take charge of the situation, but also to help the other person resolve the conflicts that made him or her ?difficult? in the first place.

The crazy thing is that the natural way in which many of us react when we meet a difficult person is often more inclined to make that person?s behavior even more difficult. The key factor in dealing successfully with difficult people is to understand what makes them behave in the way they do.

Recognizing the personality type of difficult people enables us to deal successfully with them. Most styles of behavior can be caregorized as one of three basic types:

 Passive

 Aggressive

 Assertive

Passive behavior I most typified by people who put other people?s needs before their own; such a person is often insecure and frustrated by his own inability to be assertive leading to a self-fulfilling prophecy of feeling inadequate.

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Aggressive behavior can be summarized as satisfying one?s own needs at the expense of others; a tendency towards being a bully. This aggressive behavior is often the result of feelings of inadequacy and lack of self-worth: that nothing is ever their fault but always someone else?s, because an aggressive person?s lack of self0esteem does not allow them to admit faults.

An assertive person is concerned not only for his own rights and opinions but also for those of others and tries to obtain a win-win situation. In general, assertive people are the ones we most like to be associated with and by moving towards the assertive areas ourselves, we are better able to respond to passive and aggressive types.

B. Different types of behaviour.

Exercise 1. Look at the following examples of behaviour that a chairperson might have to deal with in a meeting. Which situation(s) should the chairperson deal with most urgently?

Discuss what strategies the chairperson could use in each situation:

1. A participant looks bored and is not contributing to the discussion.

2. Every time anyone makes a suggestion, one participant responds with a negative comment. They say why an idea won?t work, but don?t make any positive suggestions.

3. Two participants keep having private, whispered discussion during the meeting.

4. A participant doesn?t want to listen to anyone else?s ideas. They keep interrupting and try to dominate any topic discussed.

5. A participant is not very willing to give an opinion.

6. A participant keeps introducing irrelevant topics to the discussion.

Exercise 2. Look at the suggestions below for dealing with difficult situations and choose the response that you think would work better.

1. Help calm a difficult situation by acknowledging how the person feels.

a) You?re obviously pretty angry about this.

b) I can see that you feel strongly about this.

2. Try to find out why the person is being difficult.

a) Can you explain why you are feeling this way?

b) Why are you being unreasonable?

3. Show that you understand.

a) I can sympathise with your concerns.

b) I realise why you?re panicking about that.

4. Encourage quiet participants when they contribute, even if you don?t agree with their ideas.

a) Thanks for your suggestion, but you really need to think it through a bit more.

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b) I think the basic idea is good, but perhaps we could discuss some of the details.

5. Be firm if people try to use the meeting to speak about personal grievances.

a) This isn?t the best place to discuss this.

b) Leave your personal differences out of this.

C. INTERRUPTING AND HANDLING INTERRUPTIONS.

Different styles of interrupting apply in different situations.

Appropriacy depends on place, context and the people involved.

For example, internal meetings or meetings with clients, friends, status of relationships, formality, urgency, time considerations, conventions, agenda, style of discussion etc.

Generally, the more informal the meeting, the more likely that interruptions will be acceptable.

In large formal meetings, interrupting may be reserved only for the chair.

Interruptions can have different intentions:

a) to ask for clarification;

b) to add opinion;

c) to ask for more details;

d) to change the direction of the discussion;

e) to disagree.

In some cultures, people like to work in a sequential manner, finishing one task before starting the next. Such people dislike being interrupted in the middle of a task and having to consider something else. In other cultures, people can happily handle several tasks at once. This means they don?t mind interruptions. These different attitudes can affect the way meetings are run.

Exercise 3. Read the following discussion in the European sales office of an American off-road automobile manufacturer (Amass). It concerns the advertising plans for the launch of a new truck, the Rodeo 4 PLUS. Manager, Matt Haslam, is explaining his ideas.

Mark the following statements as True (T) or False (F).

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Exercise 4. Read the conversation again. Choose the interrupting phrases and write them down in the order in which you read them. There should be nine of them.

1. ????????????????????.?????????????

2. ?????????????????????????????.????

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3. ?????????????????????????????????.

4. ??????????.???????????????????????

5. ????????????.?????????????????????

6. ?????????.????????????????????????

7. ??????????.???????????????????????

8. ?????????.????????????????????????

9. ?????????????????????????????????.

Exercise 5. a) Discuss the style of the Amass meeting.

b) How does Matt handle the interruptions? Does his approach change at any point during the extract?

c) Did you think the interruptions are appropriate?

QUICK COMMUNICATION CHECK. (optional ) (for doing at home with further

discussion in the classroom)

Exercise 6. Stating opinion.

Complete the following phrases.

1. It s??????????????????? to me that the price is too high.

2. I t?????????????????.??. the price is too high.

3. I b?????????????????..?? the price is too high.

4. In my o?????????????????.., the price is too high.

5. In my v?????????????????.., the price is too high.

Exercise 7. Asking for opinion.

Complete these exchanges using one of the words in the box.

think, interesting, great, agree, hear, opinion (2), right, information

1. What?s your (a) ????????????????????...??. on this?

2. It?s a (b) ????????????????????????.??? idea.

3. Do you have any particular (c) ?????????????..? on the subject?

4. It?s (d) ???????.?? , but I need more (e) ???????????? .

5. Mark, can we (f) ??????????????????? from you on this?

6. I (g) ???????? with Madeleine, she?s absolutely (h) ??????.?.. .

7. Let?s hear what others (i) ????????????????????.?.? .

Exercise 8. Interrupting.

Underline the correct word to complete these sentences.

1. Can I say/tell/talk something here? I think ?

2. Excuse me, Mr Chairman, I want to interrupt/disagree/not agree with what Mr Ancram has said.

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3. I?m sorry, may I add/interrupt opinion? It seems to me?.

4. That?s not the true/true sure!

5. I?m afraid/pardon/sorry but I?d like to go/move on/continue another point.

Exercise 9. Handling interruptions.

Replace the marked words in the sentences below with words or phrases in the box that mean the same.

talk about, return, not talk about, interrupt, finish, anything to do with, go ahead

Date: 2016-06-12; view: 635