Meetings are a very important part in the success of a project team involving global teams.
Meeting facilitators should be prepared and planned. All the meeting participants should be prepared in advance on the agenda of the meeting, inform who will be attending and they are expected of them in the meeting. Participants should be informed of what decisions if any that the team to trying to make during this meeting.
It might be good practice to ask meeting attendees to submit written comments if possible before the meeting. This practice is especially effective if the meeting involves people who are not fluent in English. Meeting facilitators could try to make sure that all the participants get a chance to speak and no one member times up all the time. Also, it is good to follow up with key meeting participants after the meeting to make sure all the issues are clear and confirm agreements.
Figure 6 below are some of the ground rules suggested by Aperian Global, a company that works with clients in developing strategic global approaches to leadership development, organizational change and innovation when handling multicultural conference calls.
Figure 5: Ground Rules for handling Multi-Cultural Conference Calls
1. Identify self before speaking
2. Speak slowly and clearly
3. Speak so that everyone can hear (directly into the microphone)
4. Refrain from long monologues
5. Do not interrupt speakers (except to clarify)
6. Interrupt to clarify if necessary
7. Explain what is happening on your side (laughter, who is joining or leaving, etc.)
8. Check periodically if there are any questions; allow “processing time”
9. Summarize periodically
10. Allow short side conversations in native language
11. Ask permission for side conversations
12. Summarize side conversations briefly
13. Make suggestions for process changes
14. Get agreement from all for process changes
15. Take turns when sharing ideas
16. Keep time; announce time updates
17. Keep on track; reschedule additional topics
18. Intentionally provide “air time” for people who have not yet spoken
19. Summarize and confirm results at the end of the meeting
20. Debrief the meeting process at the end
21. Allow thinking time
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1 comment:
I really enjoyed reading these tips on how to behave in global meetings! If participants put them in practice on a daily basis, projects involving global teams have more chances to be successful.
At my department we have a monthly conference call, where participants from 10 countries discuss critical issues that need to be addressed, actions to be taken in regarding to HR practices, and so forth. Sometimes it gets really hard to understand what the participants are talking because people get excited and start talking at the same time.
So the facilitator needs to interrupt whoever is speaking in order to ask other participants to be cognizant and respectful while someone is speaking. I will certainly share these findings with my team! : ) Thank you!
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