Setting the Agenda

How valuable is your time?

Did you know you can download a clock from the internet to calculate the cost

of your meetings? All you need to do is type in the number of attendees at the

meeting and their average hourly wage, and start the clock. As the seconds tick

away and you see how much those seconds are costing your company, you’ll

start to appreciate what a terrible waste of time – and money – most meetings

are.

So what can you do? Firstly, make sure everyone arrives on time. No excuses.

If five people at a meeting are sitting around waiting for a sixth person to turn

up, just think how much money you are throwing away.

Now, a different view:

Did you know that 50% of business communication is actually small talk? Small

talk is a vital part of working with other people: finding out what they’re doing,

what they’re having problems with, and what they think they should be doing

differently. Perhaps even more importantly, it’s about getting to know your

colleagues and business partners as people, not just as business machines.

Business is very largely based on trusting people, helping and being helped by

people and persuading people to do things. How can you achieve any of those

things if you don’t spend time getting to know each other?

When is this relationship-building supposed to happen? Outside of working

hours? No, that’s not right if we accept that relationship building is real work.

When we’re sitting at our computers or in our offices? No, that’s when we might

need to avoid interruptions and stay focused. So when, then? A lot of the best

small talk happens accidentally: the classic situations are the queue for the

photocopier, the coffee machine or the water cooler. But a much more

systematic and effective way to build good relationships between people from

different departments is to allow small talk to flourish in meetings.

Great!

Secondly, get most of the work done before the meeting. That means sending

round detailed agendas, with clear instructions for all participants telling them

what they need to do to prepare for the meeting. Again, accept no excuses if

someone fails to prepare properly. That means the meeting itself can focus on

problem-solving and decision-making rather than wasting time explaining the

problem that needs to be solved or the decision that needs to be made.

Thirdly, stick to the agenda. Don’t let anyone hijack the meeting by chatting

about something irrelevant. If they want to talk about those things, let them call

their own meeting. Don’t let them take over yours.

Fourthly, set a time limit and stick to it. There’s nothing worse than a meeting

that goes round and round in circles with no decisions ever being finalised. A

time limit can be a great way to focus everyone’s minds on the purpose of the

meeting and the need to achieve something concrete … and then to go back to

work and start implementing the decisions.

Of course small talk has its place, but that place is not a meeting.

New vocabulary

Look at this introduction to a meeting. What does the chairwoman mean by the phrases in bold?

.

Let’s get a few things straight about meetings: the whole point of bringing

people together for meetings is to generate discussion, to resolve

misunderstandings, and to find solutions to problems that people couldn’t find if

they were working alone. If everything is carefully planned in advance, and the

chair of the meeting sticks rigidly to the agenda, none of those things can take

place. Of course, there’s a time when it’s appropriate for one person to talk and

everyone else to listen and learn, but that’s a presentation, not a meeting.

If you’re serious about making your meetings more effective, you need to give

the participants plenty of time to ask questions, take the conversation in new

directions, say things which may or may not be relevant, and above all, get to

know each other. Of course, you need to make sure things don’t get out of

control, but that means finding a sensible balance between small talk and

getting down to business.

A company which does not tolerate small talk may get things done more

quickly, but that doesn’t mean it’ll do things the best way, making full use of the

skills and ideas of its employees … and it may well find that it loses its best

employees and its customers just as quickly.

an attendee, to tick away, to appreciate sth, an excuse, to turn up, to fail to do sth, to stick to sth, to hijack sth, (ir)relevant, to take over sth, concrete, to implement a decision, vital, to trust sb, to persuade sb to do sth, an interruption, a queue, a watercooler, systematic, to flourish, to get sth straight, a misunderstanding, rigidly, appropriate, to tolerate sth.

1. Right … I think we should start now. Robert, Alice … could you …? Robert

…? Thanks

2. OK, so, is everybody here? Who are we waiting for? Hmmm … well, I think

we’ll have to make a start without them. We’ve got a lot to get through

this afternoon.

3. Right, well, as you know, the purpose of today’s meeting is to see where

we are with the marketing plan, and to work out what we still need to do

before the launch, which is now just six weeks away.

4. By the end of the meeting, we need to have a list of firm action points for

the next month. Hopefully we’ll then need only one more meeting next

month to tie up any remaining loose ends.

5. Did everyone get a copy of the agenda I sent round? OK, good.

6. As I say, we’ve got a lot to get through, so please let’s stick to the

agenda. I’ve set aside two hours for this meeting, and we really can’t afford to run over. Ideally, we can cover everything in an hour and a half. Does that sound reasonable?

7. Ah, Helena, come and take a seat. We started without you.

8. So perhaps we can get the ball rolling by going through the list of

action points from the last meeting.

9. Borys, you were going to look into the costs of the various options that came up last time. Could you tell us what you found out?

Intro

Let's have some small talk!

Now match the nine steps in the meeting introduction (1–9) to the descriptions (a–i).

*Ask the question to a specific person.

The beginning of a meeting presents a major dilemma: is it better to get straight down to business, or is it important to allow or even encourage small talk? Small talk refers to conversations about things which are not directly relevant to the current task we are doing or the situation we are in. Classic examples include discussions at work about the weather, the news, TV programmes, family news, etc. Small talk is small in the sense that the conversations tend to

be quite short.

a. Stating the desired outcome.

b. Introducing the first point on the agenda.

c. Getting people’s attention, interrupting small talk

d. Handing over to the first speaker.

e. Dealing with non-attendees.

f. Dealing with a late arrival.

g. Explaining time limits and procedures.

h. Stating the purpose

i. Checking people have seen the agenda.

Right … I think we should start now. Robert, Alice … could you …? Robert …? Thanks. OK, so, is everybody here Who are we waiting for? Hmmm … well, I think we’ll have to make a start without them. We’ve got a lot to get through this afternoon. Right, well, as you know, the purpose of today’s meeting is to see where we are with the marketing plan, and to work out what we still need to do before the launch, which is now just six weeks away. By the end of the meeting, we need to have a list of firm action points for the next month. Hopefully we’ll then need only one more meeting next month to tie up any remaining loose ends. Did everyone get a copy of the agenda I sent round? OK, good. As I say, we’ve got a lot to get through, so please let’s stick to the agenda. I’ve set aside two hours for this meeting, and we really can’t afford to run over. Ideally, we can cover everything in an hour and a half. Does that sound reasonable? Ah, Helena, come and take a seat. We started without you. So perhaps we can get the ball rolling by going through the list of action points from the last meeting. Borys, you were going to look into the costs of the various options that came up last time. Could you tell us what you found out?

Team work!

Team 1

Come up with arguments in favor of allowing or encouraging small talk in business meetings. Write them down!

1. How about this weather?

2. Did you catch the news today?

3. Looking forward to the weekend?

4. I can't believe how busy we are today, can you?

5. You look like you could use a cup of coffee.

6. I love your shirt. Can I ask where you got it?

7. It’s a lovely room, isn't it?

8. How long has the company been around?

Team 2

Come up with arguments in favor of discouraging preventing small talk in meetings. Write them down!

1. What body language do you think the chairwoman used to interrupt the small talk? Why didn’t she finish her request?

2. Why do you think the chairwoman decided not to criticise people for being late? Do you agree with her decision?

3. The chairwoman referred to action points for the next month and a meeting next month. What’s the difference between the next month and next month?

4. Why didn’t the chairwoman go through the agenda step-by-step? Do you agree with her decision?

5. Why did the chairwoman set both a maximum time limit and an ideal time limit?

6. What verb form did the chairwoman use to refer to an action point from the last meeting?

7. Do you think the chairwoman’s language was too idiomatic at times?

Mock-meeting

Let's have a mock-meeting to decide how much time and energy to allot small talk before meetings.

Afterwards: how effective was the discussion? Who dominated the conversation? What were the most important points?

Can you think of other phrases for the nine steps?

a. Stating the desired outcome.

b. Introducing the first point on the agenda.

c. Getting people’s attention, interrupting small talk

d. Handing over to the first speaker.

e. Dealing with non-attendees.

f. Dealing with a late arrival.

g. Explaining time limits and procedures.

h. Stating the purpose

i. Checking people have seen the agenda.

So, shall we get down to business?

Getting down to business