It’s interesting to know.

Attitude to silence during discussions.

We can distinguish between three styles of communication: Anglo-Saxon, Latin and Asian.

Unit 11

Anglo-Saxon: People feel uncomfortable when there is silence. When one person stops speaking, another stars. It isn’t polite to interrupt.

Latin: People are very talkative and feel uncomfortable when there is silence. People friendly interrupt each other. This is not impolite but shows interest in what the other person is saying.

Asian: There is often a silence between the moment when one person stops speaking and the next person begins. It is a sign of respect for the other person if you take time to think silently about what they said.

Part3. Discussion techniques.

A. HEDGING

Hedging is when you avoid disagreeing directly. To hedge, you could say:

1. I take your point about punctuality, but clocking in and out would not be very popular.

2. I understand what you’re saying about the needs of each department, but each department must be treated in an appropriate way.

3. I see/know what you mean, but we must look at the human factors as well as the numbers.

4. I hear where you’re coming from on this, but we must remember this is an advertising agency, not a car factory.

B. CHECKING UNDERSTANDING, INTERRUPTING, REFERRING BACK.

a)	To interrupt someone politely:	Can I come in here? Sorry to interrupt you, but … If I can just stop you for a moment …
b)	To refer back to what was said:	As we were saying earlier … To go back to what I was saying ... To go back to what X was saying earlier …
c)	To check that you understand what someone has said:	Are you saying that …? Are you suggesting that …? If I understand (you) correctly … Are you implying that …? If I follow you …

C. AGREEMENT, CONSENSUS OR COMPROMISE?

Hilary Rhodes is talking about how to deal with agreements and disagreements. «It may be possible to reach agreement or to reach an agreement about something, or at least come to a consensus: something that most people can agree with.

Unit 11

It may be possible to compromise or to find a compromise: an agreement where people accept less than they wanted at first. Or perhaps the differences are so great that there will just be disagreement. Something in particular that you disagree about is a disagreement.

AGREEING

Strong agreement:	a) You’re perfectly right. The costs involved must be incredible. b) I couldn’t agree more. We got our latest recruits after we won the industry award for best advertisement. c) Precisely. Creativity comes to some of our people in the middle of the night. d) Exactly. We have to look at the company as one unit. f) Absolutely. It’s the output, not the input, that counts.
Mild agreement:	a) You may be right there. We’ve already ten per cent over budget. b) That’s true, I suppose. There must be some limits on when they work. c) I suppose so. They seem to arrive and then go straight out again to eat.

DISAGREEING.

Mild disagreement:

a) That’s not really how I see it. Everyone should be allowed to work in the way that’s best for them. b) I don’t really agree. The prizes important, but people would come to work for us anyway. c) I can’t really go along with you there. I think we need to see people at their desks actually working. d) I think you’re mistaken. If the designers get to work late, they don’t go out for lunch. e) I’m afraid I can’t agree with you there. All you financial people do is worry about costs.

Strong disagreement:

a) I’m sorry, but that’s out of the question. You can’t expect people to go home at ten and come back at nine in the morning. b) I think you’re wrong. The design department’s costs are justified because of our high quality work. The costs of other departments are not justified. c) Of course not. The latest figures I’ve seen show that the project is within budget. d) That’s absurd. There must be some sort of control on when people work. e) That’s ridiculous. Each department has very specific needs.

Unit 11

D. INVITING PEOPLE TO SPEAK

Inviting someone to start:	a) Would you like to open the discussion, Greta? b) Perhaps you would like to get the ball rolling. Greta. c) Greta. Would you like to kick off?
Asking for someone’s opinion:	a) What about you, John? b) What are your feelings on this, Keith? c) What do you think about this, Keith? d) What are your views on this, John?
Asking for everyone’s opinion	a) What’s the general feeling on this?

E. MAKING YOUR POINT.

The participants use some of these expressions:
Head of human resources:	I believe the design department needs a certain amount of freedom, but there are limits
Head of design:	As I see, I can’t run the design department as if it was the accounts department.
Chief financial officer:	In my opinion, they’re going much too far. I can’t bear to think of the costs involved.
Senior designer:	Of course, we are sensitive types and need to be given the freedom to work how we like.
Other types of making your point include:	a) The way I see … b) It’s clear to me … c) Personally, I think … d) It looks to me as if … e) Obviously, …

Note: You use «Of course» and «Obviously» to introduce an idea, but also to show that you think other people will be aware of it already.

Be careful, as this can sound rude.

F. CONCLUDING.

Carla Eagleton sums up and brings the meeting to a close: «Right. I’m afraid we’re running out of time so we’re going to have to stop there. To go over what’s been said, there is a disagreement about timekeeping and budgets in the design department. I’ve listened to both sides of the argument. I think I can sum it up by saying that it’s a problem of creativity versus control. I think you’ll just have to agree to disagree. I’ll let you know my decision about the solution to this problem by the end of the month. So unless anyone has anything else to add, I think that’s it. Thank you all for coming.»

Unit 11

G. SUMMARISING

Exercise 1. Read the following text to find out:

a) three recommendations on how a meeting should end;

b) what should happen after a meeting.

Regardless of the type of meeting (information or decision–making), it is important to close with a restatement of objective, a summary of what was accomplished, and a list of agreed action that needs to be taken.

After the meeting, it is essential to follow up with action. A brief memorandum of conclusions should be written and distributed. Inform appropriate people who did not attend the meeting about essential decisions made.

Finally, each meeting should be viewed as a learning experience.

Future meetings should be improved by soliciting evaluations and deciding what action is required to conduct better meetings.

From Marion Haynes, «Effective Meeting Skills».