Fight and Unite

 

  This article is an excerpt from Great at Work, the hidden habits of top performers.

             Every day we go to work, we need to face a different type of people. Sometimes we need help from others or need to deal with others. Each action requires good communication skills and energy. When you work as a team, a meeting is conducted by the boss because they want team members to update status and generate ideas. In this section, it is going to explain how to have an effective meeting.  

       Firstly, make the meeting safe. Why? it is normal that team member has different personal characteristics. Some team members dare to voice up their opinion but some of them are quiet and feel embarrassed. It is waste if team member keeps their wonderful idea in their mind and they did not advocate it. Therefore, the boss can prepare three different cards during the meeting. There are red, green and yellow cards respectively. When the red card is raised, it means team member has another solution. When the green card is raised, it means the team member agrees with the idea. If the yellow card is raised it means the meeting discussion needs to get back on track. The card can be raised by any team member when it is necessary. It makes the team member feel safe if they are given a chance to speak up their ideas. Quiet people will also participate vibrantly in the discussion.

            Next, everyone in the meeting must have an equal chance to express their opinion. It means the meeting is fair to all team members. People will be more likely to commit to decisions even they disagree with it. If the meeting is just biased on a certain group of team members, other team members will feel that the meeting is unfair and they can’t perform well at work.

            In the meeting, you must able to speak up ideas correctly. When you are at the meeting, don’t just listen or force other team members to accept the idea. You can try to advocate your ideas and show why your idea can solve the problem. The purpose of the meeting is to generate the best possible solution. Do not feel sad if your idea is rejected. Try to learn from the process and you can perform better in the next meeting.