Master Meetings with Decision-Makers

Webinar Takeaways

Meetings are where we see and get to know each other. In general, meetings are undervalued and underutilized and we generally don’t have time to prepare for them. The webinar focused on promoting three skills to help you feel more comfortable:

• being more assertive in meetings.
• balancing decision making and collaboration in meetings.
• sharing your point of view with senior leaders in meetings, even when you don’t know the right answer. 

1. Be more assertive

Being more assertive is not about being less collaborative or using some skills and dropping others. It could be that you simply need to bring your own perspective to the table, which may take work to develop. Not sharing your perspective in meetings may make one appear to lack confidence.

Here’s a simple tool for being more assertive: the Communication Triangle. 

The triangle has three parts.

• You
• the meeting topic
• the decision-makers

Each line in the triangle represents your relationship to the other point. 

• What is your relationship with the topic? What is your comfort level? Does it need more attention or prep to share your point of view?

• What is your relationship with the decision-makers? Level of trust or comfort? Are your concerns more about the topic or the decision-makers?
• What can you do to get more comfortable with the decision-makers and the topic (and yourself)? Hint: Brainstorm for ideas, prioritize, and take one action (respect the fear, shame, and anger that may accompany this process)
• Rank which one needs the most attention and focus on that.
• There’s also a relationship between the decision-makers and the topic. The DM may have a different perspective on it and level of familiarity with it then you do. 
  

2. Balance decision-making and collaborating

Questions to balance decision-making and collaboration in meetings:

• What is the purpose of the meeting? Is it obvious or will it take some effort to describe it?
• What does success look and feel like? How do you want yourself and others to feel in the meeting? Light? Humorous? Intense?
• What do members of the group value in a meeting, in general? People come with different values and you may need to take time to get some clarity on that.
• What is your role in the meeting? What do others expect your role to be? It’s not necessarily your role or title. 
  

3. Share your POV

When I don’t know the answer, can I still speak up? Many people stay silent if they feel like they don’t know the “right” answer. 

Things to keep in mind:

• Who knows the answer?
• Is a meeting necessary? Or can you stop by a desk or give someone a call instead?
• If no one knows the answer, why not contribute your own perspective? Offering your point of view may be valued by senior leaders as part of the contribution, giving them something to react to. Might only be a partial answer. Helps build the way to the answer. 

It can take time to develop these competencies. Keep it in perspective—development requires intentional change. You have to start somewhere. Prioritize and do your best. Or pick the one that feels the easiest to gain some momentum and confidence.