There are those of us who enjoy our monthly, weekly or maybe even daily meetings at work, and then there are those of us who do not.
Unfortunately there’s not a lot that can be done about meetings, we have to have them to increase communication and understand what is expected of us.
Tips for the Table
With this in mind, for the things we can’t avoid in life, we can simply make the best of. Therefore we are going to provide you with some guidelines for the appropriate boardroom etiquette and how you can get through a meeting as easy as possible.
Firstly, ensure you arrive early, or at least on time. There are a number of reasons for this; you want to set a good example, you don’t want to be the last person who turns up and you don’t want to miss anything.
Even though we are quickly progressing in to a paperless world, the continual tapping of keyboards in quieter surroundings such as meetings may pose as a distraction to those who are still writing down notes with a notepad and pen. A solution for this could be to distribute touch screen tablets to your members of staff – although this might be expensive, technology is becoming so advanced that programs such as Google Drive are allowing multiple people to work on a document at the same time, which is then automatically saved. This is a lot more time effective and can allow your employees an effective method of communication, therefore benefiting your company in the long run.
Be willing to voice your say on arising or existing matters. Maybe something has been bothering you, or you think your idea for an upcoming project is a good one; if this is the case, you need to take a meeting as an opportunity to suggest what you might not normally get the chance to say. As a result of this, you will need to show confidence in order to impress.
Consequently, if conflict is addressed in the meeting, deal with it directly rather than ignoring it until a later time; this will just cause unnecessary confusion and prolonged issues that nobody wants to deal with. It’s better to air out a situation that could potentially have an easy solution.
This being said, try not to interrupt people when they are speaking, even if you are itching to get your point across, most of the time this will probably be noticed in terms of your body language and you will be offered the chance to communicate afterwards.
In relation to this, it is extremely important to listen to others. As well as coming across as though you aren’t interested, fidgeting and lack of eye contact with the person who is talking might come across as rude – pay attention and you will look professional – they might actually be saying something important!
With this in mind, it’s better to keep your points short and simple, so as not to lose the interest of the others in the room. Keep your content engaging and to the point and others will appreciate what you have to say more.
Finally, attend the meeting all the way through – leaving before a conclusion might prove that your presence at the meeting in the first place was just a waste of time. You want to ensure you have noted down all of the appropriate information in order to move forward.
Boardroom Belongings
Along with boardroom etiquette, you will need to have a boardroom! Make sure you have everything you need from The Workplace Depot to set up a relaxed, comfortable environment, including:
Here at The Workplace Depot, we like to think of our boardroom as one of our more interesting rooms that you would generally find in an office; with the recent addition of a mini fridge to accommodate refreshments for our clients, a large screen TV (for presentations and group discussions of course), whiteboards and the added decoration of 007 posters hanging on the walls – no relevance, they just look good!
If any of your boardrooms have added features that are a bit different, send us a picture to keepintouch@theworkplacedepot.co.uk or either of our Facebook or Twitter pages.
Posted in Office, Workplace Commentary