The Weiman Consulting Letter, November 2007

Wynnewood, PA

When No One Talks at Your Meetings
Quotation of the Month
Memo to the Marketing Department: What to Avoid in the Subject Line
Learn More About Your Staff Through “One on One’s”
What Happens During Executive Coaching Meetings?
Do You Eat at Your Desk?

When No One Talks at Your Meetings

“At your next staff meeting, ask people what they think about your idea,” I suggested to a client.

“No one ever says anything at our staff meetings,” the client replied.

It’s a common problem that you’ve probably experienced, too. You ask people for their thoughts and you get blank stares in response. There are many reasons why people don’t offer ideas at meetings.

For example, many people don’t want to be the “first” to say something, because they’re afraid they’ll give the wrong answer. Others are shy and don’t generally speak up at meetings or in groups of any kind. And some people are daydreaming and didn’t hear the question.

Here are some ideas for how to encourage more feedback at meetings:

1. Send an agenda first when possible, and include questions you want answers to or feedback on. That will ensure that participants have a chance to think about the questions in advance.
2. Instead of addressing the entire group with a question, ask the question and then go around the conference table, giving each person a chance to respond.
3. Ask the question in the meeting, but instead of requesting immediate responses, encourage participants to call or e-mail their answer to you.

If you have a specific meeting management question, feel free to contact us, or call (610) 642-3040.

Quotation of the Month

“If you’ve heard this story before, don’t stop me, because I’d like to hear it again.” – Groucho Marx, American humorist, 1895-1977.

Memo to the Marketing Department: What to Avoid in the Subject Line

Direct marketing firm 21st Century Marketing says you should avoid using “free,” “save,” “urgent,” “important,” “$$$,” and text in all caps in the subject line of your e-mail marketing message.

Why? Because these words and symbols may make your message look like spam, and get sent directly to the recipient’s junk mail folder before they ever see it. Also, many online portals, like AOL, use filters to block e-mail with these items in the subject line.

Learn More About Your Staff Through “One on One’s”

One of the challenges of executive leadership is that by the time you find out something important, everyone else already seemed to know about it.

That’s because information in most organizations travels from the line staff up.

And there are many places along the way where it can stop before it reaches you. Although as leaders we don’t like to admit it, our vision from the top isn’t always accompanied by great hearing.

If you want to learn more about what’s going on in your company, talk to people one-on-one. To do that, schedule 15-minute individual meetings with you and all staff (if you’re in a smaller firm) or randomly selected staff from all levels (if you’re in a larger firm).

You may talk to each person once a year, twice a year, quarterly, or whatever interval fits the culture of your company and the needs of the staff.

Send them a few questions in advance that you will cover in the meeting. Keep it simple. “What do you like best about your job? Least? What do you like best about working here? Least?”

The goal of each meeting is to establish individual rapport with each person so that they will come to view you as a person they can directly connect with. When they raise issues of concern, write them down and tell them how you plan to follow up on each one. Then send them a brief update to let them know what has been done to address any issues they raised.

The explicit purpose of the meeting is to learn about what’s happening in the company or team you lead. The implicit purpose is to break down barriers to communication. Staff members will feel important because you spent one-on-one time with them. You will feel more connected to your organization, because you will be in touch with more of the people who make it run.

The return on your 15-minute investments will be huge.

What Happens During Executive Coaching Meetings?

People who haven’t used executive coaching services before often ask me how this service works… the basics are establishing the executive’s goals, identifying action steps that I believe (through 20 years of experience) will effectively achieve those goals, and then working through those action steps one by one until we’ve succeeded.

Some executives also use individual consultations to confidentially discuss (with someone not directly involved) a problem at the company.

There are other reasons someone might seek executive coaching, and all of my coaching services are described here: https://www.weimanconsulting.com/executive_coaching.htm

Contact me directly at david@www.weimanconsulting.com or (610) 642-3040 to confidentially discuss any aspect of this service or your needs.

Do You Eat at Your Desk?

If you’re working through meals, chances are you’re overstressed! My book, The Stress Solution, is an easy-to-follow workbook that will show you practical solutions for reducing the stress in your life, and coping well with the demands of a career. Check it out at: The Stress Solution