Isnin, 20 November 2017

CASE STUDY HOW I GET “YES” IN A MEETING IN 20 MINUTES

CASE STUDY HOW I GET “YES” IN A MEETING IN 20 MINUTES
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My meetings with the management especially used to be very very lengthy. In my early days as Safety Practitioner, a 60 minutes meeting does not always comes to an “end”. It means the members of the meeting cannot decide a decision due to endless debates and discussion. 
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It changes after I learnt about NLP and I managed to shorten the meeting time. The longest time taken was 40 minutes and the fastest is 20 minutes. I maintained at 40 minutes because if it’s lesser than that, it means the meeting should not been held. An email conversation or phone call should be more appropriate. 
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Now, getting a “Yes” means getting a commitment from them. Here I share with you my tips to get Yes faster in your meetings. 
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5 TIPS TO GET YES FASTER IN YOUR MEETINGS 
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#1. Invite those who are relevant only 
My biggest mistake before was inviting “everybody” into the meeting. The reason being “they need to know”. Where actually it annoyed them more. 
Invite only those who are affected by the decision and invite decision makers only. That’s 2 only in a sentence. 
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Smaller is better. My ideal number for a meeting is around 3-5 people. Mostly managers and supervisors 
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#2. Get Your Meeting Objectives Crystal Clear
Now let’s differentiate between Objectives and Agendas. Objectives are the outcome that you want from the meeting that you want. For example, you want everybody to agree in implementing a new policy.

Agenda is a list of topics that you want to discuss. 
When your objective is clear, the meeting members will know what direction they are going. Their input will be more valuable and relevant to the discussion that you have. 
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#3. Communicate the Objectives and Agenda
People hate to come to mysterious meeting… yes? When they are cautious, they will put up their barrier and that’s how you create a defensive member in a meeting. 
Tell them clearly what are the objectives and agenda because that will help them to prepare for the meeting. 
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In my experience when I invited 7 attendees, usually 2 will not show up. The good news is, the 2 who did not show up will tell me their decision (usually Yes) while apologizing cannot make it to the meeting. So I get 2 yes even before the meeting started. 
And Yes, along the objectives and agenda I provided them the meeting presentation slides too so that they are clear what topics are to be discussed. 
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#4. Build Rapport with the Members Before the Meeting 
Before the meeting starts, mingle around and be friend with them. You can observe similar behaviour by the bosses. They always talk each other in a friendly mood before the meeting start. 
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When you do this, the chance you get Yes is better because you lower down their resistance. In NLP we learnt that people resist you because lack of rapport. Build rapport and lower the resistance. 
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#5. Be Open To All Inputs and Ideas
This is what I learnt, being defensive does not much help to get Yes. Those people I invited to the meeting are all good people. Good people always challenge each other and that is the culture of an excellent leadership. 
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How do I do that? 
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First, I will listen to their inputs. Taking notes when appropriate
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Second, I will thank them for their inputs
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Third, I will respond with facts and objectively not emotionally
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Fourth, when there are relevant challenge input that I cannot answer immediately, I will take note and promise to respond to them later 
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Fifth, ask for more. Yes even though your face is swelling after being punched just keep calm and ask for more inputs. To me that’s how I show them how serious I am about the topic discussed. 
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I hope this will help you in getting commitment and support with your team
Go Up and Beyond!
Azahan Safetyman

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