Practice the skills for being an active player in meetings: what to say and how in order to be heard, get results and avoid conflicts.

PROGRAM

Day 1

  • Identifying objectives

    Agendas

    The meeting is only as good as the agenda. Practice identifying the key issues, objectives and, more importantly, the hidden agenda. Learn vocabulary for prioritizing, sequencing, reformulating and staying positive.

  • Chairing

    A good chair person not only keeps the meeting on target but also ensures that everyone contributes and follows the flow.
    Learn vocabulary for staying on track; reformulating skills to create cohesion; active listening for cooperation and strategies for reaching goals.

  • State your ideas clearly

    Stating Opinions

    It’s important to be explicit and focused when stating opinions. Learn cultural differences to see how you can restructure your ideas to better match the Anglophone style of communicating.  Learn different communication techniques for creating positive responses. Learn vocabulary for being more explicit and direct.

  • Defending Your Ideas

    This is often the hardest to do in a foreign language. Practice language skills for supporting your ideas and building arguments that work. Learn vocabulary for calibrating your ideas.

Day 2

  • Reaching consensus

    Often conflicts need to be overcome in order to reach agreement and a feeling of “win-win”.  Practice  language tricks for avoiding conflict and creating team cooperation.

  • Identify common needs and goals

    Practice active listening  communication techniques to improve dialogue and understanding

  • Making decisions

    Ideas need to be sifted, selected and combined in a way that everyone feels committed.

  • Clarifying points

    Learn vocabulary for reformulating and validating ideas.

     

  • Making choices

    Learn language for negotiating ideas

  • Conclusions/Next steps

    So where do we “net out”?

  • Proposals and recommendations

    Practice summarizing and providing implications

  • Setting up action plans

    Learn language for planning and projecting into the future.