A professional approach to meetings
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With virtual meetings now becoming more prevalent than ever, knowing how to conduct yourself in a meeting as a participant is important to understand how to contribute and bring your voice into the discussion. What has seemed to occur in meetings now is that employees either:
team members speak up and are more active because they feel more comfortable to interact without fear of judgement online
members switch off in meetings; being silent or non-responsive and just listening into the meeting
Being prepared is first knowing and understanding what the meeting is for. Meetings exist for a purpose - there should be points of discussion and topics to be addressed for it to have meaning. A meeting without a proper agenda is meaningless, and requires something of significant importance that cannot be settled with a short interaction.
As a participant in a meeting, you should be prepared to contribute to the meeting - which starts with knowing what the meeting is about and what views you have on the matter being discussed. Figuring out your position on what the meeting is addressing will be useful to help you be clear when communicating and allow you to be more open to what others have to say on the matter.
If you are appropriately prepared for the meeting, you should be able to speak with confidence and convey your opinions with clarity. This is especially important as your say in the meeting can directly impact the flow of the meeting and the resultant decision.
Conveying ideas simply can be achieved by first being clear on your position and using language that is accessible to all participants in the meeting. It is important that all attendees understand what you are saying and be able to process your opinion on different matters. In technical fields this becomes a delicate area because there is a lot of specialist jargon and industry specific language that perhaps not all participants will understand. Knowing WHO is in attendance in the meeting and their background can be helpful in deciding what kind of language to use, and whether to be abstract or specific when talking.
Moreover, capturing the attention of the room and making sure that you are being succinct and valuable in the meeting is critical such that you don't get distracted or bore the room. To address this, you simply need to be authentic when talking - speak from the heart and deliver with passion and enthusiasm. If there is energy and weight behind your words, people will want to listen and hear your opinion. Confidence is attractive.
The most important thing in meetings is to stay on track and make sure that all matters are addressed in the meeting so that it doesn't go on for the whole day. No one wants to be stuck in a meeting all day and end up getting nothing done. So keep yourself and your colleagues in check by reminding each other what the purpose of the meeting is for so that no time is wasted debating unecessary topics. By focusing on the matters that are important, you make sure that everyone's time is used meaningfully and not wasted.
It's easy to agree and go along with the flow of the meeting, so that makes it all the more crucial that any issues are ironed out and brought to attention by disrupting this flow. People tend to be agreeable by nature in groups to avoid conflict, but meetings are the place to bring up these issues and discuss them in the first place. Therefore, you shouldn't hold back anything as highlighting issues are a form of contribution that shows that you are thinking critically and invested in the end result of the topic of discussion.
Actively participate and show your fellow members that you are engaging with what is being discussed. If someone is done talking, asking questions will show that you have listened, considered what has been said and are interested in working together to address that point.
Asking open questions encourage debate and stimulate new ideas and opinions from others into the discussion. By letting these ideas form, you can enter new territory or invite others to explore different perspectives that they may want to share with the team.
Moreover, asking questions helps your own understanding of the matter, by allowing others to clarify and share their own point of view.
It is important however to not interrupt others while they are talking/presenting but rather write your questions down while you are listening and bring them up after they are finished and there is an appropriate moment for questions/discussion. This is again so you do not stray away from the topic and distract the speaker from what they are saying.
Another common theme occurs where introverts find it difficult to pitch in meetings since they are innately shy or find it stressful to voice up at times. This is a problem however when considering that many workplaces will have weekly or even daily meetings where the team is called to gather and discuss topics that bring together different sides of the company. As an introvert myself, knowing how I can be more effective and productive in meetings is something that I will have to work on in order to be a more competent employee.
Before any meeting, knowing the agenda is extremely helpful for preparing your thoughts and ideas about each point. This gives you time to think about what you want to say beforehand and allows you to later convey your opinions with confidence.
Quiet people aren't always the best at thinking on their feet which can be quite common in meetings if preparation is not done beforehand. Moreover, discussions entail speaking to others, which may cause distress to introverts who prefer to take their time and peruse their vocabulary to find the "right words". As such, preparing what you want to say beforehand and practising in front a mirror can build confidence and trick your brain into believing that you have already said that, encouraging you to relay them once again.
For this reason it's useful for introverts to have notes prepared for meetings on the agenda for what they wish to say. Not full-length paragraphs or statements, but delivered in a casual manner using conversational language.
Having successful discussions come about by having all parties be composed and collected as they converse. To overcome the anxiety that comes with speaking beforehand for some introverts, finding a few moments of solitude to breathe and relax yourself can help tremendously with boosting your confidence and preparing you mentally for the meeting.
By focusing your attention on your breathing, you detract your mind away from having obsessive or negative thoughts that may cloud your head and cause anxiety. If any such thoughts do arise, you may fare well by coming up with arguments against these thoughts
If you have something to say, say it early. The longer you wait, the less likely you are to voice up as the meeting moves forward, or you feel discouraged from overthinking what you were going to say. The problem then builds up and no one gets to hear what you had in mind. So it's better to just say it and not have to deal with regretting saying nothing at all.
Although meetings are on the clock, there isn't necessarily a need to rush yourself when someone asks you a question or when you're put on the spot. If you're caught off-guard, give yourself time to think by letting your team know you need to formulate a response and pause for a moment. You even have the option to throw the question to others and see what they think to buy you some time to think of your own stance on the matter. If you're unsure of what to say, give yourself time to think.
If someone interrupts you while you're speaking, or detracts from your train of thought, give them time to finish what they are saying and alert the team that you still had more to say. You can either keep a finger in the air to visually signify you weren't done speaking, or bring attention back to yourself by saying something like, "I have a couple more thoughts on that matter...".
Again, meetings are a huge part of the workplace. It's where people within the company gather and make judgements as they get a sense of how different pieces are going. The main thing to keep in mind is that by holding back in meetings, you are at the same time holding back your career. If you stay quiet and have no impact in your meetings, you will become invisible and irritable to those who require information from you.
Meetings are your chance to highlight your achievements and accomplishments that is essential for your career to evolve and grow. If you have great ideas and work hard, having an impact in meetings can bring recognition for your efforts.
Being confident in speaking up is a habit that promotes healthy discussion in place of ignorance from quite literally ignoring an issue. It's the reason why social media is getting behind people speaking up about what they believe in and has set off a chain reaction of many others telling their own stories. Having the courage to speak up can influence others to chip in and push the meeting towards a better place, just like how these stories are now shaping our world.
Before facing confrontation of any sorts, people will generally experience jitters. Whether it be a job interview, or a phone call, you might experience butterflies, shaky hands or start having doubts about your position. It's important to recognise this behaviour is natural, and try to befriend this stress that you're feeling and label it as a sign that you're ready to bring your best to the action.
It's tempting to arrive right before the event starts in order to avoid any small talk or early confrontation, but that time is really the best opportunity to ease your nerves and calm you down. If you feel rushed or short on time, this can exacerbate your existing stress and make you feel even more anxious as you continue.
Instead it's much better to come in early, have a buffer of time for you to settle into the environment and be gain a sense of familiarity to calm your nerves. As people arrive, try and make some small conversation with them to build up your social confidence and try and build a small connection with them so it's easier to voice up later. By having some interaction before the actual meeting starts, it can be more socially fulfilling and make the experience less overwhelming once you get into it.
There's a reason why we call it 'growing pains'. Self-growth comes from pushing yourself and making yourself uncomfortable. By doing things that you aren't used to like speaking up early in meetings, you can build up your ability to speak up and contribute.
You don't have to be the loudest in the room in order to be heard. People remember and respond to how they feel strongly. So the impression that you give can be affected by using your strengths when you contribute to the discussion.
For example, you can back up a coworker by complimenting their idea and acknowledging it as good input; "Great idea! I can see that working very well."
For introverts who rely on their sense of observation, this gives them an edge for asking thought-provoking questions that other colleagues may have not thought of. Using this ability can generate more meaningful discussions and bring the spotlight to new, uncharted ideas.
Another strategy is to follow up the meeting by doing something like a summary email to your boss or initiating a proposal for something that was mentioned in the meeting. This can help you build up a better reputation for being attentive and contributing, whilst building up your own confidence.
Take initiative on things that were mentioned in the meeting. If something was unclear and needed more research, you could take on that research and have something to present in the next meeting. This shows initiative and gives you something relevant to commit towards between meetings.
It's this technique of pre-commitment where you commit yourself to something productive that stimulates good habits towards behaviours you desire. Because you have committed yourself to that, you'll be more motivated and more likely to follow through.
When you have a point to make yet find undermining thoughts creeping in, thank your inner critic for trying to do it's job by keeping you protected. Fear can signal you're saying something of significance. Seize the moment. Stop playing small. Remember, you’re part of your organization because you’re qualified, you’re effective, and you matter.
You’ve got a lot to offer—now it’s time to let everyone know it.
This notion of speaking up within the first 5 minutes consistently comes up across all these articles. It's because during the first few minutes of the meeting, everyone is awake and present for the meeting. The attention of all the attendees is fresh and so it's the optimal time to get your ideas out there and be engaging.
It's often very difficult to come up with an original point of discussion on the fly, so utilising what you have in your immediacy can be extremely beneficial. By building on what others have brought to the table, you can steer the discussion to a new direction and move the meeting forward whilst keeping things on track.
Instead of spending time debating on things or clashing with others by constantly voicing your own opinions, sometimes its better to explore the ideas of others by digging deeper and asking them questions to help them open up and think expansively. Questions that help prompt creative thinking like "How" or "What" can be useful here as a standard opening indicator.
You can ensure that the meeting is a success by focusing on creating action from what is being addressed. Taking initiative and prompting what the next steps are and who should be assigned what helps to bring a future-oriented result which you can measure.
