Careers have stalled, derailed or even been cut short because of what happened or did not
happen in meetings. While meetings are primarily
for discussing and making decisions, they are also useful for getting noticed
and advancing one’s career.
As the old
Castrol TV commercial drilled into our consumer brains, “Oils ain’t oils,” so
meetings are not just meetings. From the
point of view of the individual manager or professional, the management meeting
is a semi-public forum in which you are able to stand out and impress the
people who are powerful and/or highly influential in your organisation. You will never see it because it will happen
at another time and place when one nod or shake of the head will result in
career heaven or career hell for you.
Senior
meetings are not the places to think out loud about some vague idea you had
when driving in to work. Save that
brilliant thought until you have worked it out with your team and put together
a compelling business case. Shooting the
breeze with an idea which is still in the early formative stage is too
risky.
Before you go
to a meeting, switch yourself over to “meeting mode” in which you are
consciously managing the perceptions of the members of your organisation’s tribe: the senior executives, your manager, other
senior managers and your peers.
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| Make the most of meetings by preparing and promoting. |
On the surface
you are there to discuss the current project, report on its progress, make
decisions and for a thousand other reasons.
Under the surface you have another agenda which is to build your
executive presence ever stronger. You go
to each meeting thinking about how you will present and interact in ways that
are consistent with and reinforce your executive presence.
Here are just
five strategies (of many) to consider:
1. Invite
your Manager and His/Her Manager to Your Next Team Meeting
Most people
avoid asking the senior executives to attend one of their own meetings like
they avoid jumping into crocodile-infested waters. It is rare for a senior executive to be
invited into what most managers regard protectively as “my territory.”
If you have a
great meeting structure, lots of positive contributions and you stick to the
timelines and run the meeting efficiently, you can distinguish your leadership
and openness by taking up this strategy.
2. Speak
Confidently and Concisely
In senior
executive meetings, be direct to the point and make your contributions
concisely. Avoid long anecdotes or
making interesting (to you) detours when you speak. Instead speak in bullet points, backing up
what you say with concrete facts, evidence and data.
3. Keep
your Contributions Overwhelmingly Positive
When
others think about you, they should have strong impressions of a positive
contributor. Keep your comments at least
90 per cent positive and reserve your negative gun-powder for when it really
counts, for example, when you know with absolute certainty a particular
decision will send the team, Division and company hurtling off a cliff and
plunging to certain death on the rocks below.
4. Promote
Meeting Preparation to the Top of Your To-Do List
Absolutely
when it matters, you must prepare thoroughly before you go to the management
meeting. Even if you are not presenting
at the meeting, study the agenda and have one or two points ready to contribute
to the discussion.
Senior
executives notice when someone is well prepared; equally they notice when
someone always comes to meetings unprepared.
Preparing
before the meeting is especially important for people who need time and a quieter
environment in which to formulate their ideas and responses. We are referring to the introverts in the
team; every team needs these more serious, analytical and cautious
members. Introverts tend not to like
making snap decisions and speaking off the cuff. If the foregoing description sounds like you,
it is essential to allow more time to prepare so you are ready to speak on an
issue, ask questions and play an active part of the decision-making.
5 If the Meeting Structure and
Organisation is a Shambles, Fix It
If management
meetings produce little or no outcomes or run over the allocated time, don’t
just walk away shaking your head in frustration. Do something about it!
Go to your
Manager or the Chairperson with a plan for change, for example volunteer to
write the Agenda and distribute it. Place
time limits on the individual Agenda items to ensure the meeting finishes on
time.
In People
Results’ Executive Presence Half-Day workshop, the topic of meetings is
covered, along with many other strategies for managers and professionals to
build and increase their poise and presence and be viewed as future senior
leaders of their firm, company or department.
Our next
public Executive Presence workshop is in Brisbane on Wednesday, 29th August,
2012 from 9am to 1pm. If you would like
more information and/or to arrange registration, please click here.
All the best for great meetings,
Lynne Lloyd
Managing Director
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