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What comes first, the coffee or the meeting?

Dealing with different expectations in meetings

mediumHave you ever needed to discuss terms and conditions with international partners? You come in ready to get down to business as quickly as possible, only to discover that the others first want to have some small talk or a coffee before discussing business? You might think to yourself, “Are we here to have a nice time or to do business?”

How we expect a meeting to run and how the meeting really progresses might be very different. We can all face the question, “When are we ready to get down to business?” So how do we find the correct balance between small talk and business? How should we identify what our partners (or participants) expect in advance?

General tips to consider before beginning the meeting

  • Find out about your audience in advance. What might be most important to them?
  • Consider following the cues of others in the meeting. How and when do they ask questions?
  • Think about potential differences in expectations and possible solutions in advance.
  • Know what you want to achieve during the meeting and how you wish to do so. Be aware that the audience might not have the same goals or process in mind.
  • Know both formal and informal phrases for dealing with different expectations.
  • Know when to use the phrases you’ve identified.
  • Notice possible mistakes (i.e. starting too soon, ignoring the other participants’ needs, etc.) and ask for feedback
  • Be aware of the importance of company culture.

Some questions to ask yourself before the meeting

  • What do the meeting participants expect?
  • When should I begin discussing business?
  • Is a formal or an informal tone better?
  • Does my company have any official information I can refer to?
  • Where can I go to find out more information about potential pitfalls?
  • What do I feel is a good balance which will accommodate everyone?
  • Would it be beneficial to receive extra training in this area?

Dealing with expectations in international meetings

When preparing for international meetings, we can take inspiration from the 7 dimensions of culture, as defined by Dr. Fons Trompenaar. They are:

  1. Universalism versus Particularism (Rules versus Relationships)
  2. Individualism versus Communitarianism (The Individual versus The Group)
  3. Specific versus Diffuse (How Far People Get Involved)
  4. Neutral versus Emotional (How People Express Emotions)
  5. Achievement versus Ascription (How People View Status)
  6. Sequential Time versus Synchronous Time (How People Manage Time)
  7. Internal Direction versus Outer Direction (How People Relate to Their Environment)

The area that best relates to our “getting down to business” scenario is the Specific-Diffuse dilemma. Here’s a quick overview* of this dimension:

Dimension Characteristics Strategies
Specific People keep work and personal lives separate. As a result, they believe that relationships don’t have much of an impact on work objectives, and, although good relationships are important, they believe that people can work together without having a good relationship.
  • Be direct and to the point.
  • Focus on people’s objectives before you focus on strengthening relationships.
  • Provide clear instructions, processes, and procedures.
  • Allow people to keep their work and home lives separate.
Diffuse People see an overlap between their work and personal life. They believe that good relationships are vital to meeting business objectives, and that their relationships with others will be the same, whether they are at work or meeting socially. People spend time outside work hours with colleagues and clients.
  • Focus on building a good relationship before you focus on business objectives.
  • Find out as much as you can about the people that you work with and the organizations that you do business with.
  • Be prepared to discuss business on social occasions, and to have personal discussions at work.
  • Try to avoid turning down invitations to social functions.

*Taken from: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/seven-dimensions.htm

You could ask

Specific

  • Do functions and roles define relationships with others?
  • Is written communication more important than face-to-face or telephone?
  • Are closed questions more often used than open questions?

Diffuse

  • Do relationships with others define functions and roles?
  • Is the background story or information necessary for understanding specifics?
  • Is it valuable to invest time in getting to know each other directly and personally?

As the saying goes, being well prepared is half the battle

Although it might take a bit more time, considering the questions shown above should help you to be better prepared for meeting situations where individuals have different expectations. If you would like to learn more, have a look at our intercultural seminars or some more of our intercultural blog posts.

3 communication problems faced in meetings and 9 facilitation strategies that will solve them

Even if you’re well organized, with a clear agenda and purpose, basic communication problems can arise that can derail your meeting very quickly. If it’s your job to moderate a meeting, you need to be able to get clear decisions without wasting too much time. Below, we present a few common communication problems and basic facilitation skills that can solve them and get your meeting back on track.

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Problem 1: Deadlock

Situation: The group discusses an issue fully, but no agreement can be reached because no one changes their opinion. Here’s an example:

Chris: That brings us back to the question: do we want to host the event in Denmark or Croatia?

Dana: It’s too cold in Denmark. Let’s go to Croatia.

Richard: I still don’t understand why we can’t just do it in Germany.

Mark: Russia! Russia! Russia!

Laura: We’ve been talking about this for an hour. Can’t we just choose one?

Strategies for dealing with deadlock

  • take a break and try again, but with a clear time limit to make a decision
  • make a temporary decision that can be changed later
  • use a problem-solving tool like the FOCUS model

Problem 2: Unimportant points

Situation: The group discusses trivial points and wastes time. For example:

Mike: So should the picture be on page 343 or page 344 of the report?

Strategies for dealing with unimportant points

  • as facilitator, give one person the power to make a final decision
  • scan the agenda and delete unimportant items before the meeting, then discuss those points with the relevant colleague privately
  • if there’s one idea that everyone seems to be happy with, name it as the choice and quickly move to the next point

Problem 3: stubbornness

Situation: One person sticks to their opinion no matter what anyone else says, and refuses to change their opinion. For example:

Tina: I don’t care what you say, I insist that we use Acme as our telephone company.

John: But Acme is the most expensive.

Tina: That’s true. But our telephone company must be Acme.

Strategies for dealing with stubbornness

  • ask questions to find out why your colleague insists on this one option. Maybe there is information the group doesn’t know that can help the discussion move forward. Insist on full answers to your questions.
  • rather than attacking what you see as a stubborn approach, try to put yourself in your colleague’s shoes. The situation might look differently from their perspective.
  • if the colleague still refuses to change, apologize and tell them that while you value their opinion, the group has made another choice

Communicating across cultures – What’s in a name?

Communicating across cultures begins with the understanding that one size does not fit all

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mediumDifferences in cultures, as we see so often, can lead to a host of great and small misunderstandings. Take something as simple as a name. It is entirely common in some German companies to use Mr. or Mrs, followed by the surname, even after years of working together. This custom can confuse a visitor from a different culture to the point that negotiations and/or meetings are less successful than they could have been – if only one of the parties had addressed the elephant in the room: How do we address each other?

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose. By any other name would smell as sweet.”

What is perfectly acceptable in one culture may be perceived as too informal or unprofessional in another and that is also for true for the use of someone’s name. Business, conducted by Germans and non-Germans together can get complicated. Can you use first names in meetings? When? How do you know if it’s acceptable? If you ever find yourself in such a situation, here’s what you can do…

Don’t panic

When you do business in Germany, assume that ‘Mr..’ and ‘Mrs..’ is the norm. This may throw you, but don’t take this formality as a reflection on you or your business relationship. You should know that it’s very likely “Herr Jung” and “Frau Groß” use last names when they speak to each other, too. The silver lining is that it’s quite a leap forward in the business relationship if someone invites you to use his/her first name.

Take the initiative

Let people know how you would like to be addressed before that elephant shows its long-nosed face. When introducing yourself, give your full name first “Good morning, my name is Bette Ernst.”, then add a simple “Please, call me Bette.” This may seem too friendly, but it certainly establishes one of the most important things you may want them to know: you see them as an ally, a partner, and you want to work with them.

At this point the other person has two options:

  • They can take you up on your offer: “That’s very kind, Bette.” And they will probably follow up with an offer for you to call them by their first name: “And, please call me Al.
  • They can politely decline: “Thank you, but we prefer using surnames in this company” or “Thank you. But I think I’d feel better with Mrs. Ernst’.” Then you must keep using their surname, as well. Again, this is not a reflection on you. Some people just prefer to wait until they know someone well – beyond a first meeting – before they start using first names.

Better be safe than sorry

“When I speak to my boss in the office, in a regular conversation, I can use his first name. But in a meeting or in front of the other colleagues…no way!” That was what an Executive Assistant told me when I asked her if she referred to her boss by his first or last name. Always err on the side of safety. Authority and formality matter in a lot of cultures. If you might embarrass the person or call her stature or authority into question by using the first name, don’t do it. If you’re not sure, don’t do it. Again, if they offer to allow you to use their first name, it’s a big step. Well done!

Consider the big ‘but…’

If you expect the meeting to be especially contentious, if you have to negotiate with someone particularly difficult, if the meeting will involve a significant amount of disagreement, or if the discussion involves unpleasant topics, it’s probably better that you stick to more formal language.

Although offering to let others call you by your first name is a great way to immediately ‘warm up the room,’ I think it’s almost never a good idea to ask someone if you can use their first name. “May I call you Peter?” sounds polite enough, but it can put people on the defensive. They may feel you have “crossed a line” merely by asking. You can also suggest that everyone in the meeting use first names, but that’s a minefield you’d do well to avoid.

International business etiquette

Besides the large amount of cultural differences, there are also a large number of commonalities when it comes to doing business internationally. Here are two links:

 

 

 

 

Authentic communication demystified

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Free ebook presentationsWhatever your job, where ever you’re based, whenever you interact with others – authentic communication counts. It could be in a meeting, teleconference, interview, presentation, conflict situation … Your ability to communicate authentically will have an impact on your success. And your company’s success. But what do we mean by authentic communication? And what does it look like?

Authentic communication – the bare essentials

The term “authentic” communication is frequently used but too rarely defined or explained. To break it down to its basic component I’d say that authentic communication is fundamentally about intention. You genuinely intend to create a real connection with the person you’re speaking to. And you genuinely intend to allow them to make a connection with you. This intention means you

  • share who you are, where you are coming from and how you see something
  • do this in your own words
  • are honest and clear about what you see, feel and believe (saying what you mean and meaning what you say)
  • seek to understand and identify with the other person

Sounds simple, right? Let’s go deeper…

10 key behaviours authentic communicators display

Be yourself

Authentic communication isn’t about tips, tricks and impressive sounding communication tools and acronyms. It’s about being comfortable in your own skin, and with who you are. As Bruce Lee said…

“Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.”

And who would want to argue with him?

Open up

The key to is to really allow yourself to see the person you are speaking with and allow yourself to be seen. You let them see you as you really are at that moment and let them into your world. This can be frightening and involves a degree of vulnerability – but to be authentic you need to be real – and that means showing them something, and something that is true right now.

Listen

Make sure that when you are listening you are fully focussed one the speaker and not rehearsing your response, judging etc. Listening skills are the key to making a genuine connection with somebody. (How good are your listening skills?)

Work to create mutual understanding

Imagine yourself in the others’ shoes and be curious. Avoid second guessing and making assumptions about what others are feeling, thinking or mean. Check your understanding on a regular basis.

Take responsibility for your communication

Use I/me rather than we/our.  You need to accept ownership for what you say and be fully responsible for any unexpected consequences. You need to be descriptive.

Speak clearly

Use natural, conversational language. Short sentences are great, and look for common vocabulary. Avoid using ambiguous language and jargon. And if in doubt check you both understand what was said in the same way.

Watch the sweeping statements

Exaggerating to make a point is never helpful and creates divisions and resentment. Language such as “always” and “never” is rarely accurate.

Separate the objective and subjective

Try to be clear about what you see as an objective fact and a subjective opinion. If in doubt, ask for clarification.

Say what you do and do what you say

Match your words to your actions.

Be self-aware

Work to become aware of your own prejudices, tendencies, triggers and judgements. The sooner you can become aware of your reactions to specific triggers, the sooner you can focus on controlling them.

 

Fine-tune your communication skills.Take a look at our interpersonal seminars.

 

Help! How do I speak English in a meeting after not speaking English for years?

This is what a stressed-out team leader asked me last week. His manager had asked him to present his ideas at the global management meeting in English – but unfortunately – he hadn’t spoken English for a long time and needed help. Luckily, there are many things you can do to ease your anxiety, so if you suddenly find yourself in the situation where you need to speak English after a long break, here are a few things you can do.

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1. Prepare

Take a moment to go over some English basics. Make sure you can introduce yourself simply and explain your position in the company. Also think about how you will ask a question, interrupt a speaker or ask for clarification if you need to. Which key words can you check before going into the meeting?

2. Manage expectations

Make sure you manage your own expectations regarding how much you will be able to follow the meeting and how much you will be able to contribute. Do not expect to suddenly understand everything if you are returning to English after a long break. Expect to slowly get used to hearing English again. Expect to follow more as the meeting goes on and you relax a little. However, also expect to get tired quicker as it takes a lot of effort to listen to an English meeting after a long break!

 3. Take notes

If you are having trouble following, take notes so you can catch up later or have someone give you more details in your own language afterwards. Do not try to write down everything! Focus on writing down key verbs (important actions) and nouns (important names and points).

 4. Be honest

If you need to contribute, be honest about how much you can communicate and how much you understand. There is no point in lying or pretending you understand – it is easy to see how much you are following (or not). There is no shame in being rusty; it is hard to speak another language, especially in business. The other people in the meeting will appreciate your honesty (and many may be feeling the same).

 5. Use resources

If there are slides in the meeting, make sure you ask for copies so you can go over key points after the meeting. If you are allowed to bring your laptop into the meeting, use an online dictionary when you do not understand words that are used repeatedly. Do not check each and every word, just key words that are repeated during the meeting and are important for understanding. Also, although the meeting is in English, you can ask colleagues for a quick translation during the break (or quietly as the meeting moves from speaker to speaker or topic to topic). Use every resource available to make sure your return to English is as pain free as possible.

Boost your Business English

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Learning to listen: lessons from baseball, TED talks and an alien life form

How well do you listen?

Sound matters. In work. In life. Sometimes we forget that. I heard a story recently that was told by a former Major League Baseball player. He talked about a manager he once played for. During practice, the manager would put players in the outfield with their backs to home plate. A batter would stand at home plate and have someone pitch the baseball to him. Baseball bats are made of wood and are roughly 30-34 inches long. The cork-filled, leather-covered ball is thrown anywhere from 80-100 miles per hour. The batter would swing the bat and hit the ball. Now here is the important part:

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Because the player in the outfield had their backs to home plate they had to train their ear to know what part of the field the ball was travelling to, based on the sound created when the baseball made contact with the bat. If you’ve ever seen a baseball game (or cricket) you know you can hear when a ball is hit solidly. But you can’t determine where it is going to travel. This manager wanted his players to hear the contact, and make a split-second decision to race to the position they believed the ball was going, without even seeing it. With practice, players knew exactly where the hit ball was going.

They had to learn to listen.

Are we “losing our listening”?

TED, the great, freely accessible online source for learning, has what I think are two of the best talks around on how to achieve excellent communication. Both are by Julian Treasure, author of an excellent book on the impact sound has on our working lives called ‘Sound Business,’ and both are well-worth watching. In one, he talks about speaking well and in the other, the one I suggest below, he talks to us about listening.

Of his five tips on how to listen better, the final one – an acronym, of course – RASA, the Sanskrit word for ‘juice’ or essence’ is exactly that when it comes to business communication: listening is important, it’s the essence of effective business communication. RASA stands for:

Receive

That is, actually pay attention to what they’re saying.

Appreciate

By making natural small noises or utterances like, “ah” or “hmm” or “okay.” You may have also heard it referred to as active listening.

Summarise

Very crucial to all sorts of business communication, from presentations to negotiations and everything in between. Here it’s critical you are authentic and summarise what you heard – NOT what you wanted to hear.

Ask

And finally, ask questions. Find out more. Learn as much as you can about a situation, a trend, a project, a risk, or an opportunity.

ALF

Learning to listen starts with recognizing all the barriers we create for ourselves. This is where ALF comes in, and no, we’re not talking about the sitcom character that chased cats. ALF means Always Listen First. Julian Treasure warns us at the beginning of his TED talk that ‘we are losing our listening.’

Don’t lose yours. Listen like a Major League player. And Always Listen First.

Leading meetings in English

What makes leading a meeting in English so hard?

Leading meetings can be hard enough in your own language. All eyes are on you, and you are responsible for achieving an outcome in an allotted space of time. You need to deal with derailers and challenges – for example manage comments, build inclusion, develop buy in, deal with challenging meeting members, and know when to start and stop discussions. Any experienced chair person knows that this is often not an easy task! And this is even harder when you have to do it in a foreign language.

Leading meetings in English can bring even more challenges:

  • Will you have to manage participants from different cultures?
  • How will you ensure involvement when some participants speak good English, and some don’t?
  • How will you manage the balance of power that language skills bring to the native speakers?
  • Are you comfortable enough working in English? 

meetingsebook

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Relax – it’s all about the meeting, not you!

When I’ve had to run meetings in Spanish or German, it took me a while to realize that it doesn’t help to worry about these questions. I quickly learned that the participants were actually interested in the content of the meeting – and not my grammar. I also learnt that the native speakers really appreciated the fact that I was doing all this in another language. I relaxed.

Divide the meeting up mentally

As long as you have a structure, and some key language ready to manage the structure, you’ll be just fine. Divide the meeting into sections – for example the start of the meeting, during the meeting, and the end of the meeting. And then think about what your role is at each stage. Here are some ideas, but you’ll probably be able to think of others that are relevant to you. And then make sure you’ve got a few phrases practised for each stage. Knowing that you are able to use phrases like these, gives you that extra confidence you need when leading a meeting in English.

English phrases for the start of the meeting

At this stage you need to set the scene. This could include:

  • Introducing the purpose: Thanks for getting here on time. Today we’re here to discuss the… / The aim of today’s meeting is to….
  • Giving an overview: We’re going to run through the main points of the agenda, the main points we plan to cover today are….
  • Outlining procedures: we’ll start from the top, and there should be some time for AOB at the end.

English phrases for during the meeting

What’s your main role here? Basically throughout the meeting you are responsible for maintaining structure and focus, so that a clear outcome can be reached. If that doesn’t happen, what was the point of the meeting? In order to make sure this happens, you might need to:

  • Invite comments: Henri, what are your thoughts on that? Xi, perhaps you could tell us what you think about that?
  • Ask questions to clarify information: Could you run that by us again please? I’m sorry, but I’m not sure I was clear about what you meant when you said….,
  • Clarify what someone else means: Are you saying that…? What I understood was that you’d….? Correct me if I’m wrong, but you’re saying that……So, what you’re saying is…? Can I check that I’ve understood that correctly?
  • Test everyone’s understanding: Eva, could you summarize the main points of that discussion for us? What were the key points from that?
  • Steer towards the objective: Could we bring the discussion back on course? This is really interesting, but we’re drifting away from what we’re supposed to be talking about.
  • Interrupt: I don’t want to interrupt you but…, If I could just come in here…., Svetlana, let me just stop you there
  • Holding off an interruption: Could we come back to that later? If I could just finish what I was saying…. Can I just finish making my point?

English phrases for ending the meeting

This stage is about tying everything up neatly and making sure everyone leaves the room knowing why they were there and what they have to do next.

  • Summarize: So, to summarize then…., So, if I may, let me just run through what we’ve agreed here….
  • Confirm decisions: We’ve agreed that… Everyone thought it would be a good idea to….
  • Set next meeting: Would Monday 13th at 11:00 work for everyone?, Let’s schedule the next meeting…
  • Delegate tasks: Our next steps are to…., Luis kindly volunteered to…, Elizabeth agreed to send us all the ….

Share what works

Let us know about your experiences of leading meetings in English. What have been your main concerns? What did you do to overcome them? What advice do you have for others who have to lead meetings in English?

Book Review: Get the most from your meetings

As so many business people around the world already know, few people are satisfied with the quality of their meetings at work. A recent study in the US found that 50% of managers surveyed considered many meetings to be a “waste of time.”, 90% said most meetings were a failure due to “lack of advanced planning and organization,”and over 75% said that they received no formal training on how to conduct a meeting. To make matters worse, American professionals attend an average of 61.8 meetings per month, and research suggests that 50% of that time is wasted. We can assume that the situation in Europe is similar.

Despite this general feeling of dissatisfaction, meetings are here to stay because they’re still one of the most efficient ways to share information and solve problems at work. However, it’s wrong to think that they’re necessary in every situation, or that they cannot be improved. The question is: if we must have meetings, what concrete steps can we take to guarantee they are effective and efficient in terms of time, effort and money?

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Along with our  latest eBook “Keys to effective meetings”, here’s a list of resources you can use to make your meetings more effective.

Facilitation Made Easy: Practical Tips to Improve Meetings and Workshops

Esther Cameron

Facilitation Made Easy is a comprehensive study of the complete process of planning, carrying out and debriefing workshops, conference calls and meetings. In addition to a description of what you need to do, this book also describes why, so you know the theory behind the key factors that make a meeting successful.

Meetings That Work!: A Practical Guide to Shorter and More Productive Meetings

Richard Chang & Kevin Kehoe

Written by consultants with experience working with multinational companies, Meetings That Work! focuses on keeping meetings short, concise and to the point. Examples and techniques are provided that you can put to work in your meetings right away.

Talk Lean: Shorter Meetings. Quicker Results. Better Relations.

Alan Palmer

‘Talk lean’ in this context means to use fewer words and less time to convey your intended message to your audience, while being careful to remain respectful, polite and considerate. The focus in this book is on honing your communication so that you’re always using time in the most efficient way possible.

Read This Before Our Next Meeting

Al Pittampalli

Pittampalli starts with an interesting question: “What can you do to make a difference in your company’s meeting culture that requires no one’s permission but your own?” The emphasis here is on responsibility: when you make changes that work based on your own initiative, others have no choice but to follow your example. One of the more thought-provoking books on meetings and meeting culture, Read This Before Our Next Meeting will challenge you to take personal responsibility for the quality of the meetings you hold.

Boring Meetings Suck: Get More Out of Your Meetings, or Get Out of More Meetings

Jon Petz

If you can’t tell from the title, Boring Meetings Suck is an unconventional and irreverent look at how meetings work and why they sometimes go wrong. Petz takes a humorous approach to some of the more common problems with meetings in companies around the world. The situation becomes less humorous as you realize many of the situations happen in your own organization every day.

Meeting and Event Planning Playbook: Meeting Planning Fundamentals

Debi Scholar &  Susan Losurdo

While it’s written from an administrative assistant’s perspective, the Meeting and Event Planning Playbook can still be useful for the comprehensive view of the meeting planning process it offers. The section “75 Questions to Ask to Plan a Meeting” might come in handy for meetings where you need to make a particularly good impression, like customer visits.

First aid tips and tricks for sickly teleconferences

I’m going to give you a few quick and easy tips and tricks to make your teleconferences better. Why am I going to do this? You know why. Many teleconferences are horribly ineffective and waste a lot of valuable time. I have sat through hundreds of telecons, and have trained hundreds of other people who have sat through hundreds of teleconferences.

Three complaints I have heard time and time again are:




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  1. There’s a weird atmosphere on the call because there is too much silence.

  2. I can’t understand certain people when they talk.

  3. Our teleconferences are “always” a waste of time.

So, if you can give me a few minutes by reading on, I will try to give you some quick and easy ways to overcome these issues.

Silence is deadly…and uncomfortable

Silence can kill…a teleconference that is. If you are on a call, show some life and participate. Here are a few things you can try on your next call:

  • Give verbal feedback throughout the call. Simple sounds and phrases can really help the flow and atmosphere of a call. “Uh huh”, “I agree” and “Nice work Tom” are a few examples that can be used.
  • When you go through the agenda before the call, try to have at least one thing to contribute for each point. This way, you will be prepared to break the silence and look smart at the same time!
  • Don’t be afraid to express your opinion or give someone positive feedback. Not only does this help fill silence, but it can also build rapport (agreement) or generate some healthy discussion (disagreement).

What did he say?

It can be very difficult to understand some people on the telephone, and especially in teleconferences. This can be due to language issues, accents, the volume of a person’s voice, their phone habits, etc. The next time you don’t fully get something someone says on a call, try these:

  • Make sure you actually say something to them about it. Many times we don’t understand someone but don’t say anything because it is easier. Politely ask them to repeat themselves. Most of the time people don’t realize they are hard to understand.
  • Confirm understanding when you are not sure. Use phrases like “If I understand you correctly, you are saying…” and “Just to make sure I understand correctly, did you say…” This can be a more diplomatic way of telling someone they are hard to understand, and is especially helpful if you have asked them to repeat themselves a lot on a call.
  • Contact someone personally after the call. If you are having trouble understanding someone on a consistent basis, try calling them or emailing them after a call to politely bring this to their attention. You have to be careful how you do this, but many people will appreciate knowing that they should change the way they speak so people can better understand them.

These calls are a waste of my time

Most teleconferences run too looooooong. Here are a few things to do to save everyone some time:

  • Get feedback from the participants. First, assess if this is a common opinion by asking for feedback from the participants. Ask everyone what they think is causing the calls to run too long. Then, using the feedback, try to get rid of those ‘time wasters’.
  • Make some calls optional if possible. Give people a chance to opt out of certain calls. Then they can choose to use their time the way they want. Just make sure to take clear and concise minutes so that anyone who misses a call has the important information discussed.
  • If you usually have 30 minute calls each week, try doing the same thing in 20 minutes. If you usually have 60 minute calls, try doing them in 40 minutes. You will be surprised how much you can accomplish in less time if you focus on doing so. Remember, it is the moderator’s responsibility to keep things within the timeframe. With that said, some of the most successful teams I’ve worked with have had a designated “time watcher” that can help remind the moderator when time is running out.

These suggestions can turn your sickly teleconferences into the most productive time of the week!

Ok, just joking; but at least you can make them a bit better. If you are interested in more ways to make your teleconference better, download our ‘Sweet sixteen – quick and easy steps to better teleconferences’.

Book Review: 5 great books to boost your virtual teams’ performance

As we’ve heard from many of our participants in our virtual team seminars , the challenges of virtual teams are similar to the challenges of face-to-face teams but magnified. Additionally, new challenges arise, such as the impact of a lack of contact on the social glue that holds teams together, and matching the right technology to the right task. The sources we’ve looked at below continue to help us to focus on practical solutions to the real-world problems and opportunities virtual teams present. We hope they will help you to succeed in a virtual environment as well.

VTchecklists

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Virtual Team Success

By Darleen Derosa & Richard Lepsinger

This research-based book is a compilation of practical approaches to virtual teaming. The book contains a number of helpful checklists and best practices that can serve as a guide for virtual team leaders and participants. The behavioral focus of Virtual Team Success will help you to get out ahead of any problems before they happen with no-nonsense advice based on real-world success. If you need to justify the investment of time, energy and resources needed to improve your virtual teams, this book will help you do so. The processes for solving common problems in virtual teams is a highlight.

Mastering Virtual Teams: Strategies Tools and Techniques that Succeed

By Deborah Duarte & Nancy Snyder

The authors of Mastering Virtual Teams have applied best practices, tools and techniques from team theory and information and knowledge management to the challenges of virtual teams. They’ve organized the information in three, easy to follow areas: Understanding, Creating and Mastering Virtual Teams. Their vast practical experience as professors, consultants and business leaders inform the “how to” approach of the book. The book provides a toolkit for participants, leaders and managers of virtual teams. Practical tools, exercises, insights and real-life examples help you to master the dynamics of virtual team participation with guidelines, strategies and best practices for cross cultural and cross functional work. For example, instead of simply stating “build trust”, the authors give us three general guidelines for building trust in a virtual environment. Not surprisingly, these factors work in collocated teams as well. They’ve included a CD Rom with the third edition as an easy way to print the checklists and helpful documents from the book.

Where in the World is My Team: Making a Success of Your Virtual Global Workplace

By Terrence Brake

Where in the World is My Team: Making a Success of Your Virtual Global Workplace follows the exploits of Will Williams as he makes his way in a virtually enabled workplace and the life of a young professional in London. As a narrative that weaves the best practices of virtual organizations and teams, Where in the World is my Team succeeds in helping the reader to want to go from cover to cover and not use the book merely as a resource document. The book is far more than just an entertaining look at a digital life. The book’s very detailed appendix provides researched support for the virtual structures and tools highlighted in the story. Brake’s 6 C’s of global collaboration provide a logical framework for the needs of effective virtual teams.

Leading Virtual Teams

Harvard Business School Publishing

Leading Virtual Teams  is a quick and easy guide for those who don’t need to be convinced to do what it takes to improve their virtual teams, needing only tips on how to do it. The book covers the basics for those beginning their experiences with leading virtual teams. There are references to related Harvard Business publications, a mention of the Harvard extension course on Managing Virtual Teams, taught virtually, and a brief test as a check-on-learning.

The Big Book of Virtual Team Building Games

By Mary Scannell & Michael Abrams

The Big Book of Virtual Team Building Games fills a present developmental need for many virtual teams with games that encourage building rapport, solving problems and team skills. The games are designed to be played using various virtual team platforms and are cleverly arranged according to Tuckman’s stages of team development–forming, storming, norming, performing—with the additional stage, transforming. Each game is described in detail with the approximate time for completion. Keep in mind that teams with member using a non-native language may take a little longer than predicted.

 

Leading interactive virtual meetings

What strategies can be used to make virtual meetings as effective and engaging as possible?

One of my clients recently asked me to listen in on a virtual meeting and give feedback to the chairperson of the meeting. This person wanted to make the daily meeting more interesting, interactive and motivating for the participants. Regularly scheduled meetings with topics which may or may not be completely relevant to all of the participants can lead to boredom. The temptation to multi-task and read emails, mute your microphone and tune out completely are high. Afterwards, we discussed the possibilities. Below is a summary of the ideas we came up with.

Know and use the virtual tools available to you

Do you know which tools are available to help make your meetings interactive? There are other tools you can use apart from just sharing your desktop. If you don’t know the system which your company uses very well, find out by doing some research or asking others. Or perhaps taking formal training is the most effective way to learn more about it.

Insist that participants dial in with their name or department

It is very helpful to have some way of identifying exactly who you are speaking to about a certain point. People often feel more inclined to answer or respond when they are addressed by name. Plus encouraging people is also more effective when you use their name!

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Clearly identify (and stick to) the topics for the day

If possible, identify the people who need to be involved before beginning to speak. If this isn’t possible, clearly identify the topic and ask those people involved to give you some sign that they are listening.

State expectations and rules for participation in advance

Does this mean that you want people to orally respond when spoken to? Should they raise their hands using the virtual feature? Should they do nothing? Sometimes people do nothing simply because they don’t realize that you want them to respond at a given moment. Setting expectations beforehand can make participants more willing to engage.

If participants aren’t very motivated, ask yourself if the meetings are being held too frequently

Sometimes frequency leads to apathy. Are people starting to think that it isn’t important if they come or not or if they actively participate or not? Perhaps having fewer meetings might make them pay more attention and give the event a sense of importance again.

Consider having an assistant

This person could take the notes for you, prepare information, moderate chat sessions for big groups or help motivate people to respond by using pointed questions to individuals by using the chat feature. This will leave you free to concentrate on other matters.

Which strategies do you use?

There are certainly many other ideas which can be helpful for leading online meetings.  If you would like to share, feel free to use our comments area below.

 

 

Brainstorming in English

Contributing ideas in English is a common problem for both native and non-native speakers of English. Brainstorming requires you to speak spontaneously and multi-task which can be both stressful and demanding – especially in a foreign language. Participants often have to listen to a lot of people speaking at the same time which can push listening and language skills to the limit. However, brainstorming also gives you a chance to solve problems, listen to new ideas and also develop your team – so don’t avoid them if you’re worried about getting stuck or your English failing you.  The following phrases look at some of the most common language you can use when brainstorming to avoid getting stuck.

Phrases for brainstorming

 Identifying objectives

  • Let’s define today’s objective.
  • Do we agree on the goal of the session?
  • So today we are…..
  • Let’s first describe our aims of the session.

 Making suggestions

  • How about we…?
  • Let’s try…
  • Why don’t we…?
  • Why not try this?

 Recording ideas

  • Let’s put that on the board.
  • Can we note that down?
  • Could we stick that idea to the wall?
  • Let’s post that on the flip chart.

Analyzing contributions

  • Let’s look more closely at…
  • Can we summarize these ideas together?
  • How about evaluating idea 1?
  • Let’s talk about the advantages and disadvantages of …

Using fillers (to give you more space to think)

  • I wonder…..
  • Hmmm, that’s interesting.
  • Let me think for a moment.

 More on meetings

Our blog authors have plenty to share!

We also have a number of seminars that might be of interest to you.

Helping out the non-native speakers in the room

Advice on how to improve your business communication skills is often directed at helping the non-native speakers communicate better, but what about the native speakers? What could/should they do to have a more successful outcome? Below are two considerations for native speakers preparing for meetings with mixed language ability colleagues. The examples shown below are from the observation of English native speakers, but the advice holds true for any meeting with different nationalities present.

Reformulate

It’s hard to cross-check yourself as a native speaker, especially when you are in full-flow and a strong, educated talker. It may be worth, however, trying to reword what you have just said- especially when you do catch yourself seeing some blank looks. The following expressions are taken from an actual meeting. Consider how difficult they might be to understand for a non-native English speaker. One way to evaluate this is by asking yourself: “Have I ever heard the other people in the room use this expression?” If the answer is “no”, then you should consider reformulating.

  • It’s all a bit clunky
  • We didn’t want to go there (not referring to travel, but a topic)
  • It didn’t go down very well
  • One-upmanship
  • That does seem a bit steep

Reduce excess words

English native speakers are especially good at using ‘softeners’. Softeners are words used to modify the potential force/impact of the message. For non-native speakers, the use of softeners can be ambiguous or confusing. Extracting the important information from someone’s speech is not always a simple task for a non-native English speaker. Take a look at the following example:

“We need some sort of decision probably by the end of the week”

This sentence could be interpreted as meaning, ‘I only need to think about part of the decision and I have no firm deadline to do so’. Non-native English speakers sometimes view softeners (the words in bold) as indicating that the real information they support is not that important. For a native English speaker, softeners are very hard to eradicate. On a simple level, however, you can see that softeners increase the number of words in a sentence and therefore might make comprehension of key facts trickier. This is not to say that softeners aren’t a useful tool, but factor in when it might pay to simply not use one.

More on meetings

Our blog features a number of posts on meetings.

Doing business the Dutch way

I spent a lot of my professional life working in different countries before settling down in Germany. Being Dutch myself, I’ve been regularly surprised at being called blunt and likewise, frustrated by people not simply saying what they mean when they had something to say. Since joining Target Training, I’ve gained a better insight into different cultures, through international colleagues and tools such as the IAP. 

The Dutch are known to be direct, sometimes blunt and always forthcoming with their opinions (even when not asked) in business, just like they are in their personal lives. They don’t ‘beat around the bush’ or ‘mince their words’. This behaviour can be perceived as rude by foreigners, but in the Netherlands it’s highly appreciated when people say what they mean in as few words as possible.

Point out mistakes

When doing business with the Dutch, don’t be afraid to point out a mistake. More likely than not, you’ll actually gain the respect of your Dutch colleagues / business partners if you do so. At the very least they’ll appreciate that you’re giving them the opportunity to correct the mistake that you’ve spotted.

Give your opinion

Giving your honest opinion is a virtue in the eyes of the Dutch. Even if you completely disagree with what they say, it’s better to share your thoughts than to keep them to yourself – and be direct. Business meetings and discussions focus on reaching consensus, not top-down decision making. Everybody gets to have their say. Once a decision is made, the Dutch tend to stick to it.

Are you looking for cultural insights?

Read the first part of this series of articles: How the British handle difficult questions.

Do you have specific questions about how to deal with international colleagues or partners? Or, have you gained cultural insights through your work in different countries? Let us know!

More about our intercultural seminars or the IAP.

 

Actions speak louder than words

The Dutch don’t put a huge value on titles or the amount of money you might make. Though they value education, having a number of letters in front or behind the name on your business card (prof. dr. , etc.) won’t get you the respect this automatically gets you in other cultures. Regardless of your status, they will tell you what they think if you ask for their opinion or input. They expect you to do the same. If you can prove that you ‘know what you’re talking about’, you’ll earn their professional respect. You may the boss of a company, you are still expected to know how the coffee machine works!

More tips on dealing with the Dutch

  • Avoid superiority or being overpowering. Try to reach consensus by negotiation rather than by instruction and respect the opinions of others.
  • When you meet a Dutch business partner or colleague in person, shake hands with everyone else in the room too (even the team assistant who is only there to take notes) and when you leave, shake hands again with everyone in the room. This is regardless of meeting for the first or the tenth time.
  • Don’t be overly polite or too nice. To the Dutch, these are suspicious behaviours and may cause irritation and may be seen as insincere.
  • Don’t be surprised (or insulted) when your working lunch consists of a cheese or a ham sandwich. A “broodje kaas” or “broodje ham” are staples of the Dutch lunch (often accompanied by a glass of milk or buttermilk). Anything more than that is seen as overly excessive.
  • Don’t expect compliments (or give them) at every opportunity. You may have come up with a solution to world hunger, or a complex business problem, or even saved the company a ton of money by making a small change in an operational process – “good job” is about as much as you’ll hear from them, if anything. Saying more than that when giving a compliment is perceived as embarrassing. However, you can see silence as a compliment – remember, your Dutch colleague or partner will point it out if there’s something “wrong” with your work.
  • Don’t talk business after business hours. To the Dutch, there’s time for work and time for ‘play.’ If you need or want to discuss business after hours, make sure your Dutch partners/colleagues agree to discuss business during ‘play’ time.
  • Avoid exaggerating about your products, services or experience. To the Dutch, these should speak for themselves.

Getting meetings back on track

Do you ever feel your meetings have gone off track?

You’re in a meeting to talk about one thing, but someone is talking about something completely different, someone else is discussing an unimportant point, and others are debating something completely irrelevant – the whole meeting has gone off track! When this happens, it’s hard to get back on track and return to your meeting agenda. In international meetings with foreign colleagues, this can be much harder as you don’t want to seem rude or too forceful about sticking to the schedule.  You could watch the clock and give warnings when people are talking too much or are going over their allotted time, but again this could be misinterpreted as impolite and bad-mannered.

To avoid damaging delicate business relationships, here are some common ways and phrases for getting the meeting back on track in a professional an polite manner.

Be the moderator

  • Sorry, but we’re getting off topic and need to move back to …
  • Let’s return to the main point of today’s meeting.
  • We seem to be talking outside of the scope of the meeting.

Consider the value of the current discussion

  • Do we need to add this topic to the agenda?
  • Maybe we can get back on topic and postpone this to later?
  • Is everyone happy if we discuss this later?

Focus on the schedule / time

  • We’re running short on time, so can we move back to…
  • I’m afraid we’re running out of time.
  • I’m afraid I can only give you another minute.

Talk about briefness

  • Please keep to the point everyone.
  • Please make your comments brief.
  • Please keep your remarks short.

More on meetings?

Our blog authors have plenty to share!

We also have a number of seminars that might be of interest to you.

Teleconferences are not normal calls

Not your typical phone call

Teleconferences are a great way to connect to people around the world. They’re less expensive than face-to-face meetings, often take less time, and solve problems more efficiently than emails do. Conducting a teleconference should be easy. All you have to do is connect everyone on the phone and make decisions as if you were all in person, right? Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. A teleconference is not your average phone call. It is a meeting and needs to be prepared for as such. Below are some key points to help you remember that a teleconference isn’t your typical phone call.

3THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND FOR A TELECONFERENCE

Teleconferences aren’t difficult to carry out, but many people are not mentally prepared when joining. Having the awareness, through the 3 main points below, that your telecon is not just a normal call is a great start.

1. Plan

  • Send out an agenda beforehand with objectives, time(length) of call, participants, and specific results you want to achieve.
  • Identify roles: moderator, minute taker, etc. Remember, ideally the moderator and minute taker will be two separate people. Also, just because someone sent out the Outlook invitation, doesn’t mean they are automatically the moderator. Make it clear before the call.

2. Moderate

  • The moderator should ensure that the call starts on time, not too much time is spent on certain topics, and the call allows for everything to be covered within the designated time
  • The moderator should also open and close the call in an official way. Open: state the objectives and goals and introduce people if needed. Close: review the action items identified and what the next steps are.
  • The moderator should make an effort to include everyone on the call as best they can with pointed, open questions directed at specific people. This will encourage and facilitate participation.

3. Participate

  • Everyone should participate by being prepared to say something for each item. (You may not say something for each point, but you should be prepared to do so.)
  • Ask questions if you are not sure of something
  • Speak naturally in the direction of the microphone
  • Identify yourself when speaking (if necessary)
  • Pause occasionally so others may make comments
  • Try not to talk over others and interrupt by using polite phrases

More tips on teleconferences?

You might enjoy reading Chad Phillip’s post: Teleconference tips and phrases. The simple and practical checklists in our latest Ebook: The ultimate book of virtual teams checklists may also be of interest to you.

THE ULTIMATE BOOK OF VIRTUAL TEAMS CHECKLISTSVTchecklists

How effective is your virtual team?

 

 

 

 

Virtual Meeting Dos and Donts

Ensure your virtual meetings are productive

Virtual meetings can be tricky at times. Are they more like a telephone call or a face-to-face meeting? Well, they are a combination of both and should be treated differently. Here are some quick and easy “Dos” and “Donts” for virtual meetings.

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Virtual Meeting “Dos”

  • Ensure all stakeholders essential to achieving the meeting’s goals can attend—Otherwise, reschedule it
  • Consider rotating the meeting time to accommodate those participants in different time zones
  • Prepare an agenda that outlines the meeting goals
  • Ensure meeting items/priorities/times align with meeting goals
  • Cancel a regularly scheduled meeting if you feel time could be better spent elsewhere
  • Send a meeting reminder with the agenda, needed materials, and information on the technology to be used at least three days before the meeting
  • Ask team members who are not speaking to put their phones on mute
  • Ensure everyone participates
  • Eliminate distractions—Ask people to turn off all smartphones, and to avoid email and instant messaging during the meeting
  • Side bar and report to make necessary side conversations part of the official function of the meeting
  • Document decisions and next steps

 

Virtual Meeting “Donts”

  • Hold a meeting if you can’t clearly answer the question “What is the purpose and expected outcome?”
  • Let meetings become “habit”
  • Attempt to cover more than five specific items per meeting
  • Allow side issues, “experts”, or native speakers to dominate the meeting
  • Hold a meeting even if any stakeholders essential to the meeting objectives cannot participate
  • Assume team members are clear about their roles and the meeting objectives
  • Continuously hold “marathon” meetings without any small-group brainstorming or breaks
  • Tackle critical topics at the start of the meeting
  • Let the meeting get off track by discussing the details of an action item that aren’t relevant to the meetings goals
  • Start late

More tips on virtual teams?

These dos and donts are only a small sample of the tips in our latest Ebook: The ultimate book of Virtual Teams checklists. Make sure you download a copy if you’re interested in maximizing your virtual team’s impact. Enjoy the read and… let us know what works for your virtual team!

Virtual Team Meetings: Creating Empathy and Rapport

How are your Virtual Team meetings?

More and more meetings are being held virtually. Virtual team meetings are a trend that is bound to continue as it is far cheaper than getting everyone together. But it isn’t the same, is it? Unless you use webcams, you can’t pick up on any nonverbal communication going on. You can’t see people’s faces. You can’t see what they are thinking. To be honest, you don’t know what they’re actually even doing. You also, and this point bothers me the most, can’t have that cup of coffee together at the beginning where you exchange a few words often unrelated to business.

Why is the social aspect so important?

You completely miss out on the opportunity to establish any empathy or rapport with the people you are working with. Imagine for example that you are having a virtual team meeting to discuss solving a problem you have. If you don’t have any form of relationship with these people, how can you expect them to help? Isn’t it easier to request help from someone you know a little about? If you don’t know them at all, how can you choose the right way of talking to them to win them over? Of course, the need for empathy building will vary from culture to culture. Some will take an order as an order and just do it, but not that many. And what happens if you have a multi-cultural team?

What can you do to establish virtual empathy and rapport?

It is doubtful as to whether empathy can actually be taught. But there are techniques which help to develop it. Here are a few:

  • Begin the webmeeting on time, with a quick round of self introductions. It is important to hear everyone’s voice and know who is present. Remind participants that each time they speak, they should identify themselves again.
  • Log in early and encourage small talk while waiting for everyone to join in and at the beginning of the meeting itself – have that cup of coffee virtually. This will help to make a connection between people and give them a bit of character. In a remote meeting you often feel distant from each other, and this can make it difficult to interact. This feeling of distance happens, because the participants are in different places and often can’t see each other. Small talk helps to ‘bridge the distances’. Small talk also helps you to get to know each other and each other’s voices, so you know who is speaking and when. This will help communication later on in the meeting.VTchecklists

What can you talk about and what should you say?

Small talk can also give you valuable information about the other participants which could be important to the success of the meeting. What mood are they in? Are they having computer problems? Are they calling from a quiet location? Here are some topics we recommend using and some language to get you started. There are literally hundreds of things you could say, but it can be helpful to have a few prepared. You’ll see that some of these are particular to virtual meetings:

Location

  • Q: Where are you speaking from?
  • A: I’m at my desk.  How about you?

Weather

  • Q: What’s the weather like where you are? We’re clouded over!
  • A: We’ve got blue skies and sunshine.  Hope it gets to you soon!

Logging-in

  • Q: How did you find logging in?  I had a few problems.
  • A: It was fine.  What problems did you have?

Sound quality

  • Q: Can you hear me OK?
  • A: No sorry, you are a bit faint.  Can you please speak up?

Performance

  • Q: I am getting serious lag here.  How are you doing?
  • A: I am doing fine.  Maybe it is your internet connection.

Work

  • Q: How are things going in Marketing at the moment?
  • A: Oh, you know, busy as usual.  How are things in your department?

If you give lots of information in your answers, it makes it easier for the other person to ask more questions and keep the conversation going. If you just say ‘yes’ or ‘no’, it will stop the conversation. If you’re asking questions, remember to use open questions so that they can’t be answered with “yes” or “no”.

More on this topic can be found in our Using Collaborative Technologies Seminar. Do you have any tips you’d like to share on how to build empathy and rapport in your virtual team meetings? Let us know in the comments area below.

 

Meeting Phrases: Disagreeing politely and diplomatically

How do you disagree with colleagues in meetings?
You’re in an international meeting with people from all over the world and it’s time for you to agree or disagree with the solutions being offered. Unfortunately, you can only agree on one solution – so you have to disagree with someone.

However, disagreeing with a colleague at work can be problematic. If they believe you’re being too direct – or even rude or aggressive, it could have serious consequences for your business.

If this has happened to you, you may be working with a different business culture, one that expects disagreement to be softened or said indirectly to save face and maintain good working relationships.

Here are some common diplomatic and polite ways of saying “no” which you can use in meetings to disagree politely and diplomatically.

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Meeting phrases for disagreeing politely and diplomatically

1.  The partial agree

  • I agree with you to a point, but…
  • I understand what you are saying, however…
  • I see what you’re saying, but…

2.  Using words or phrases to soften your disagreement

  • I’m afraid, I don’t agree.
  • I’m sorry, but I just can’t agree.
  • Sorry, but I really can’t agree to that.

3.  Disagreeing using general doubt

  • Hmm, I wonder if it’s true that….
  • Hmm, I’m not sure it can work like that.
  • Hmm, I’m not sure whether it’s possible.

4.  Avoiding the negative

  • I don’t think that’s such a good idea. (NOT It’s a bad idea.)
  • I don’t think I can agree with you. (NOT I disagree with you.)
  • I’m not sure it’s the best idea. (NOT it’s the worst idea!)

Following these simple examples will help you maintain good business relationships when working with other business cultures and keep things positive and diplomatic in international meetings.  Want more ways to improve your meetings? Check out our seminar on facilitating meetings for more info on how.

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Meeting Rooms: Phrases for Booking Conflicts

Do you ever have someone using the meeting rooms that you booked?

Have you experienced conflicts with the meeting rooms in your company? Imagine this situation: you’ve done hours of preparation for a meeting with your customer. Your slides, documents and ideas are in perfect order and you’re feeling confident. You meet your client in the lobby of the building and direct him upstairs to the meeting room you booked months ago, especially for this meeting. When you arrive, you feel a rush of panic: the door is closed and you can hear the sounds of a meeting in progress. You open the door. What should you do and say? It is important to knock on the door, enter slowly, excuse yourself and politely clarify the issue. Here are some phrases to help your issues with meeting rooms.

Phrases to use when discussing meeting room conflicts

 

  • Excuse me for interrupting. Do you have a booking? / Did you book this room?
  • I’m sorry to interrupt. Do you have a reservation? / Did you reserve this room?

The verb ‘to book’ is helpful when we need meeting rooms. We can also use the verb ‘to reserve’.

  • Sorry for interrupting, but I have a booking here. / I booked this room. / I reserved this room.

If you checked and you know you’re in the right place at the right time, it can help to be assertive and confident.

  • Hello. Sorry to interrupt your meeting, but I have a booking at 12:00.

If it’s close to 12:00, this can be a friendly way to suggest the person already in the room needs to finish his or her meeting in progress.

  • Hi. Sorry to interrupt your teleconference, but I think I have a reservation here at this time. Can we check the calendar?

It might be necessary to look together and see how the conflict happened.

 

While these phrases can help in the uncomfortable situation that two people have booked the same room, this doesn’t really solve the problem. Employees around the world complain about meeting rooms in their office. Bookings are changed, rooms are double-booked and appointments are modified at the last minute. Do you have any tips for how to manage this sticky situation? It would be great to hear your thoughts in the comments section below. Want to improve your meetings overall? Click here for more information.