Corporate Communication III

In Corporate Communication I and II we have seen the basics of corporate communication, E-mail writing skills and the general guidelines. In this article we will see some more guidelines in corporate communication. In this era, it is proven proof that if you want to excel in your career, you don’t require only good education but good communication skills too. I have seen many people till now who are good in education, good in their work ethics, hard and smart worker but not good in communication; the result is they lack growth in their career. And so, the dissatisfaction in their career.  Some who look for the kind of work they are getting; how challenging it is, work life balance culture, good compensation and technical growth in their career. Other are those who don’t care much about the work they are getting (don’t care about the challenges or technical growth) but they care about how much more money or excellent compensation they are getting in their career. And so they don’t care much about work culture or their career growth.

Anyway, in both of these types the communication plays a very crucial role. Here wherever I am mentioning communication I mean corporate communication. I believe that it is must have skills. So, I count it as one of the mandatory skills for every working individual. This communication has lot of facets in itself.  Out of this some we saw in previous articles like Corporate Communication I (https://chhayashinde.blogspot.com/2019/03/corporate-communication.html ) and Corporate Communication II (https://chhayashinde.blogspot.com/2024/07/corporate-communication-ii.html) like reading  habits, writing skills and respecting humanitarian values. I believe that technical skills can be taught but humanitarian values can’t be taught that one get from the family or the person develops in himself/herself and this is very crucial skill one must have.

One part of corporate communication is being noticed in meetings. Meetings in corporate is such a topic that can be discussed in a separate article also. But in this article, we’ll see a glimpse of it. Being a junior employee, you have different experiences of corporate meetings and being a senior employee, you have different experiences of corporate meeting. But we are only who contribute to good and healthy work culture. If we want to see the change in something we can bring the change by our professional etiquettes.

As far as you are attendee of any corporate meeting the prerequisites you have to take into account like:

1. As soon as you get meeting request first check from whom the meeting request is.
2. Check when the meeting is being held; the date and time.
3. Check what is the subject of the meeting.
4. Check what is the agenda of the meeting.
5. Check who all are attendees of the meeting.
6. Check who all are in cc of the meeting invite.
7. If you are able to understand the topics to discuss in the meeting then it’s ok. Otherwise ask more information to one of the other attendees in meeting.

8. If you have any doubt about the agenda talk to the host of the meeting, don’t assume anything.

After this at the time of actually attending the meeting as a guest:

1. Join the meeting at the correct time, may be 2-3 mins before the commenced time.
2. In case you are not able to join the meeting on time, inform the host accordingly.
3. When you joined the meeting let the host to conduct the meeting and listen everything carefully.
4. If you are being invited to the meeting means your physical and mental presence is important, understand this. Don’t stay absent minded.
5. If you get any questions regarding the topics discussed show active participation by asking the right questions. 

6. If you are allowed to ask questions in between, then ask in between or if you have been informed to ask questions after the end of discussion by the host then ask that time.
7. Don’t ask irrelevant questions. Stick to the topic and ask questions accordingly.
8. Don’t divert the topic of the discussion to some other topic as it will increase the meeting time unnecessarily. Don’t ask the questions just to highlight your presence.
9. If you want to interrupt somebody, ask for permission politely.
10. Put forward your inputs as they should be value adding to the discussion.
11. If your point is not getting accepted, put forward your point politely don’t get aggressive.
12. These things will show that you are active member in the meeting and not just attending the meeting for the sake of attending. 

Now when you are host of any meeting then prerequisites you have to take into account like:

1. Get a list of members who you want to invite for the meetings. Here after typing the list in your meeting invite, you can put a # mark so the empty mail by mistake doesn’t go to the attendees. I follow this trick 😊 since years in corporate while sending any meeting invite.
2. Type a cc list for the meeting.
3. If you want type a Bcc list for the meeting.
4. Form a subject line for the meeting.
5. Form an agenda for the meeting.
6. Schedule 15-20 mins grace time for the discussion of the topics in the meeting.
7. If you want to present something then do check the presentation, the projector or any other device.

8. Write the prerequisites for the attendees to attend the meeting like going through any documentation before attending the meeting.

After this at the time of actually hosting the meeting as a host:

1. Join the meeting 5 mins before the actual start of the meeting as you are the host.
2. After greeting to all the attendees read out the agenda of the meeting.
3. After starting the meeting inform all and if needed record the meeting if necessary.
4. After starting the meeting if you are completely driving the meeting then it’s ok otherwise hand over to other members to discuss the meeting topics.
5. If you are very good at remembering everything then its’ ok otherwise use notepad or use notebook and pen to jot down the minutes of the meeting        (MOM).
6. If you are fast talker then talk slowly and clearly. And make sure everybody understands what you are discussing.
7. When the meeting is over keeping separate time for questions and answers if any.
8. Ask about the input from other members or attendees.
9. Being a host you have to take care that the topic discussion should not be diverted to some other topic as it extends the meeting time.
10. In case if needed promise the attendees to conduct another meeting for the discussion for other topic.
11. If your point is not getting accepted, put forward your point politely don’t get aggressive.
12. Respect every attendee in the meeting by listening to their input carefully and not ignoring any attendees. Timely say thank you or appreciate their input.
13. As you are host to the meeting you should be thankful to them as they valued your invite and attended the meeting.
14. Discuss the action items further on you as well as on other attendees in the meeting.
15. Take care that all the points mentioned in the agenda are discussed in the meeting.

16. At the time of closing the meeting thank to all attendees for their attendance and active participation in the meeting.

After the meeting got over send the thanks mail with the MOM (minutes of meeting) to all the attendees including the action items on you and on other attendees.

For some who already know this; they will say it is so obvious as not to mention. But I have seen many freshers who are missing these things also, as they were seeing a meeting request. As nobody is perfect but it is what needed is attention of detail. One when get habit of focusing on the details one can get mastery with it. As well as professionally it is very important to respect your self-esteem and others also that can be seen how you conduct meetings as a host. This is quite a long discussion on meetings in corporates though I tried to give a glimpse of it.

Many times, generally at the starting of the career we find meetings are quite boring or not value adding to our productivity but if we try to look at it from other’s perspective or from a senior employee perspective then we understand the importance of discussing things in meetings with other fellow members. And then you understand that timely discussing topics and issues with your colleagues it utmost important and then you don’t find meetings are boring. But you find that there is really something productive comes which help you in your corporate career.