When you mention meetings, most employees roll their eyes at the sheer waste of time of these far-too-often scheduled get-togethers.
So why do organizations continue this ritual and what can we do differently?
Here are three keys to making the most of your meetings in person and virtually.
Maintain Momentum
No meeting should ever go over the allotted time.
I recently had the wonderful opportunity to speak at TEDxEmory. The overall theme was: What makes your heart beat? And my topic was Owning Your Confidence: How to Overcome Nervousness and Exude Confidence in High-Stakes Situations. I discussed several practical techniques to help you excel in even the most stressful of situations. They are practices I’ve developed over many years of being on television and speaking professionally around the world.
I recently had the wonderful opportunity to speak at TEDxEmory. The overall theme was: What makes your heart beat? And my topic was Owning Your Confidence: How to Overcome Nervousness and Exude Confidence in High-Stakes Situations. I discussed several practical techniques to help you excel in even the most stressful of situations. They are practices I’ve developed over many years of being on television and speaking professionally around the world.
Understanding your unique personality style is critical to mastering your communication skills. Equally important is your ability to assess others.
With this in mind, here are some key observational tools you can use in making your assessments.
Are you fundamentally fast-paced and outspoken, or do you tend towards being more thoughtful and observant? If you are confused by this question, then think about the last meeting you sat in.
I have been delivering keynotes and workshops on communication skills mastery for over 30 years, and I have never come across an audience member or participant who didn’t see the benefits of being a more skilled communicator.
The first step on the road to becoming a skilled communicator is to become more aware of your specific communication style. According to Mike Bechtle, the author of Confident Conversation, all of us fit into one of two broad categories:
-Those who have trouble talking,
As I checked in for my flight this morning, I couldn’t help thinking the following:
We check in for travel, we check in with our significant others, we check in at work, but how often do we check in with ourselves?
So, all I encourage you to do — starting today — is to ask yourself the following three questions:
What right now in my life do I need to STOP doing?
So often, in an effort to respond to a situation immediately, we hastily send out an email, answer a question or make a call that lacks thought.
As a result, the recipient either misunderstands the communication, doesn’t get the full context, or is unnecessarily annoyed.
Had we just taken a couple of minutes to craft our message, think about our response, or plan the call, we could have been so much more effective and in the end,
In a recent workshop on Leadership Presence, one of the participants shared that her manager often asked her if something was upsetting her.
She was mystified, because as far as she was concerned she had been fully engaged and positive in the meetings. When she asked why he thought that, he said she often looked upset. That was when she realized that her look of concentration and thoughtfulness was in fact being interpreted as consternation.
