| Many of us just don't meet our goals
when it comes to communications in the workplace. It's because
we're not meeting enough. With the proliferation of email, voicemail,
faxes, and teleconferencing, we've lost that human contact.
It's absolutely crucial to anyone in the workplace to read someone's
body language to get the whole picture. It's estimated that up
to two-thirds of total communication is non-verbal: it's done through
gestures, facial expressions, grunts, sitting in a certain spot
and any number of actions that can take place in a meeting.
Non-verbal communication gets lost in cyberspace. You have to
gauge someone's reaction to bad news, for example, by seeing the
look on his face. In an email, that employee might agree with a
decision, but his scowl contradicts that.
In a meeting, you can get reassurances that people are listening,
by seeing them nod, take notes, raise their eyebrows, ask questions,
smile, and look you in the eyes. Conversely, if they're doodling,
falling asleep, whispering to a neighbor or staring at a carpet
stain, you know they're not getting the message.
It's too easy to have email misunderstandings. This just adds
more fuel to the office politics fire. Meeting in person can help
put out the flames.
To meet or not to meet?
Of course, part of the reason we're not meeting enough is that
we spend too much time in unproductive meetings and we don't want
to cram another one into our busy schedules. But if you separate
the wheat from the chaff, you can make your meetings count.
Before you call a meeting, consider this: is the communication
one-way or two-way? If you only intend to tell people something,
it's better to just send a memo. If you have announcements to make--say,
you're letting your employees know that all invoices must be processed
by the end of the quarter--then fire off an email, fax or memo.
If you want to hear your employees' opinions--for example, do
they think that they'll need to work overtime to get the invoices
processed--then it's better to meet face-to-face. Employees might
raise questions that others are curious about, and it saves you
having to go around one-on-one to get feedback.
Advantages to meetings
Employees will handle bad news better if you meet them in person.
Your body language will communicate how sorry you are that
they will have to
work some example. Employees will appreciate that you took the
time to look them in the eyes while you informed them.
Meetings can help get people on board for new changes. It's essential
to get a 'buy-in' before you implement new ideas or projects. An audio-visual
presentation, or simply paper documents, can show co-workers exactly how
something would work.
Another good use of meetings is to smooth the waters before formal communication
take places. Let's say your marketing department has put together a plan
to launch your new product. Before the document is widely distributed,
meet with the key players to let them know it's coming and prepare them
for peoples' reactions. Nobody likes surprises.
Projects are another opportunity for meetings. Regularly scheduled get-togethers
can help everyone keep on track. Some weeks the communication
might be one-way, where the project leaders make announcements. Other meetings
might
be real barnburners with heated discussions on how to deal with
any problems.
When a crisis hits, emergency meetings can help to put out
the fire. You need to relay information quickly, and put the
top heads together
to figure out a solution, bouncing ideas off one another.
Your non-verbal signals can communicate the gravity of the problem, and
you can more accurately gauge everyone's reaction to it.
Meetings can benefit teleworkers, their supervisors, and their co-workers.
Bringing teleworkers in for a regular, weekly meeting is a good way to
eyeball them, track progress, and bring up any outstanding issues. The
teleworkers will feel part of the team and get reassurances they're not
being forgotten or passed over for promotions.
A football huddle can boost morale. The team leader can, like a coach,
give a rousing speech to encourage everyone to get back in the game and
play their best.
June 2004, Reproduced
with permission from Workplace.ca Inc. ©2004 All rights
reserved. www.workplace.ca
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