According to the Big Indonesian Dictionary (KBBI), a work meeting is a meeting of staff to discuss matters relating to the implementation of work assignments within an agency, organization or company.
From the understanding of work meetings above, we can know how work meetings play a very important role in the company’s future, because this involves the implementation of work tasks of a company. However, work meetings also cannot be held carelessly. Effective communication is needed so that work meetings can create maximum , effective and efficient meeting results . According to the ted ideas website, there are 9 ways to communicate effectively that we can apply in work meetings.
How to hold working meetings with effective communication?
1. Decide Who Will Be the Work Meeting Leader?
Every meeting or forum will not run smoothly without the role of a leader, as well as work meetings. From here we can already see how effective communication is very influential on the smooth working meetings.
Before the work meeting starts, we need to communicate with the meeting participants about who will be the leader of the work meeting. In the selection, we also need to determine whether we should choose one of the staff or is there a staff that wants to be the leader of the meeting voluntarily?
If the meeting leader has been chosen, as a company leader, boss or manager, don’t forget to give a brief briefing about what responsibilities the meeting leader has and what needs to be done at the work meeting.
2. Determine the Type of Work Meeting and the Type of Communication to be applied.
Although the title remains the same, namely, “work meeting”. However, work meetings themselves have several different types. For example, work meetings for introducing new employees and changing work assignments, work meetings for new project briefings, and even work meetings for opinion debates.
Let’s take one example, a working meeting for an opinion debate. This work meeting requires a different type of communication from the others. We need quite a long time in this work meeting. Why? Because in this agreement, we are trying to unite different opinions into a strong agreement. The effectiveness of this work meeting also depends on the number of staff participating, what topics are chosen, the position of the meeting participants, and so on.
So first determine the type of work meeting to be had, then we can determine the type of effective communication that will be applied during the work meeting later.
3. Create a “Two Minute” Rule for Participants to Express Their Opinions.
When the work meeting starts, try to “provoke” the meeting participants by expressing their opinions on the topic of the meeting for 2 minutes, WITHOUT interruption or interruption from other work meeting participants. Let them give their initial opinion on the topic of the meeting to be discussed so that each participant can hear other perspectives from his coworkers.
In addition, no one can interrupt the staff’s 2-minute conversation. This is important so that every employee or meeting participant becomes confident in speaking in front of others, even if they are not the leader of the meeting.
4. Work meetings need to be led with Assertive Attitudes and Open Minds.
There is no denying that the process of reaching agreement by bringing together various points of view is not easy. As we said at the beginning of the article, the work meeting leader has a very important role in bringing the work meeting to an effective direction. The meeting leader must be able to balance conflicting perspectives, encourage meeting participants to be able to think together and solve problems together, and invite them to use the meeting time as wisely as possible. The goal is that work meetings take place effectively and not wordy.
The most common question we often hear is, “what if an inexperienced staff member gives an opinion? Do we have to listen and agree with his opinion? Or do we just reject it? “.
In this case, work meetings need to be chaired by someone who is assertive and open-minded. If the opinion given by the staff is felt to be costly and takes longer, then maybe we can “save” the opinion first, especially if we need fast results.
However, we also need to respond with an open mind. Although we cannot execute that opinion now, but at least we can get other ideas that we may not have heard before.
5. Avoid Conversations Outside the Main Topic.
Often when work meetings take place, we focus wrongly and instead discuss other topics that are less important, even do not have any connection with our main topic. Well, things like this we need to avoid, because if not addressed quickly, our work meetings will not run effectively.
In this situation, a meeting leader can write down what the meeting agenda will be discussed and do not forget to convey to the participants, to what point was the discussion at the meeting? So, everything goes according to the flow.
6. Apply Conversation Logic in Work Meetings.
When everyone wants to express their opinions and be agreed to by all meeting participants, this will bring up new problems. One of the goals of the work meeting is to seek agreement from the bright ideas conveyed by all members of the meeting, rather than executing all opinions. Just imagine if the work meeting participants consisted of 30 people, can we execute 30 different ideas simultaneously in a period of 3 months? Of course this will be a difficult thing.
Therefore, every time an employee insists on his opinion, a meeting leader must ask “Can it be done well? Just imagine if the opinion you convey must be carried out by that person, are you sure you can do it? ” Give a few questions that can make the opinioner think whether the idea is the best idea or not.
7. All Meeting Members Must Obtain Clarity in Meeting Content.
In work meetings, we will meet many people with different types of communication. Some speak so slowly that people around them feel furious, others speak very fast, so listeners don’t understand what they are saying. This is why effective communication is needed in a work meeting. Do not allow members of the meeting to express their opinion slowly or very quickly, all members of the work meeting must get clarity from the contents of the meeting.
8. There must be Settlement in a Work Meeting.
Again effective communication plays a very important role in every work meeting. The main purpose of holding work meetings or any discussion is to reach completion and synchronization, which leads to a decision and / or an action. If the work meeting that we hold does not produce any decisions, it is tantamount to wasting time.
Any exchange of ideas or opinions expressed at a work meeting must end with a conclusion. From these conclusions, each meeting member must also clearly understand what tasks they must carry out, what responsibilities they have, and what new information they have obtained. To ensure this happens properly, assign someone to make sure the written meeting notes can be followed up by each meeting member.
9. The Chairperson of the Meeting must maintain his or her responsibilities in making work meeting decisions.
Often chaos that occurs in work meetings makes the meeting leader loses his main responsibility in leading the meeting and determine the decision of the work meeting. In this situation, the meeting leader must communicate effectively to all members of the meeting that no one can draw his own conclusions, all decisions must be made based on mutual agreement.
