Easy English

Sitzungen und Besprechungen sind oft weniger effektiv, als sie es sein sollten. Lesen Sie hier, was man tun kann, damit sie besser werden.

Better meetings

There are a number of typical problems with meetings at work. They often start late and they overrun the agreed time. They don’t keep to the agreed agenda and are often dominated by the same few people all the time. Many participants often don’t speak clearly during the meetings, and afterwards, people have different views about what was decided. The list of problems goes on and on. But with a few simple techniques, it is possible to get your meetings back on track.

Questions

As you read the following discussion from a meeting, make a note of the answers to these questions:

1. What does Josh do to keep the meeting on track?

2. What does Josh do to make the meeting more inclusive?

Dialogue

Josh: Good morning, everyone. It’s already past ten, so let’s get started.

Carina: But Sue and Herbert aren’t here yet. Josh: That’s OK. It’s important to get into the habit of starting on time. Otherwise, everyone will assume that they can just come late, and then we’ll always start late.

Carina: Yes, and then we’ll run out of time, like we always do.

Josh: You’re right. So, let’s get going.

Carina: Firstly, I’d like to update you all on our project concept. We’ve been working hard on it and I have a lot to tell you. To start with, we…

Josh: Thanks, Carina. We have only a couple of minutes for each point today, so can you just give us the highlights, please? Maybe you could send us a more detailed overview later.

Carina: OK, fine. Sorry. Basically, we’ve finished the project concept. We’re kicking off the project on the 15th. There’ll be three stages, and we aim to finish it by the end of next month.

Josh: Great. Thanks, Carina.

Carina: I’ll send you all an overview after this meeting.

Josh: OK, thanks. Now, I know that it’s not always easy to have spontaneous ideas or opinions, which is why I sent the key proposals before the meeting this time. I’m assuming you all got them and have had time to think about them. It would be great to get your thoughts, Andreas.

Andreas: Yes, thanks for that, Josh. It’s very helpful for me to get the documents earlier because I like to have some thinking time before our meetings. Anyway, I like the proposals. I think they will work. Stage two is very intensive, which is why I think we need two more people from the engineering team — just for that stage. Otherwise, we’ll risk falling behind schedule.

Josh: What do you think, Sabine?

Sabine: I came to the same view as Andreas after I thought about it for a while. When I first looked at it, I didn’t see that risk.

Josh: I agree, too. Thanks, Andreas.

Carina: So, we’ll need to inform their team leader to see if we can get the additional support. Josh: Right. Can you take care of that, Andreas? Andreas: Sure.

Josh: So, let me summarize. Carina will send us further information on the project concept. Andreas will check with the engineering team leader to see if we can get two additional people for stage two. And I’ll continue to send out information before our meetings so people have time to prepare their thoughts and ideas. That’s it for now. See you all on Friday.