Meetings are meant to align people around goals, objectives or ideas. While naïve or inexperienced people think they only attend meetings to receive updates or contribute to finding solutions, confident people know that meetings are also platforms where people’s contributions, soft skills, knowledge and potential are inadvertently assessed. It is what it is.
The reality is that everyone comes out of a meeting with as much impression of the participants as the ideas discussed. If we were to put it on a scale, you might be surprised that people develop impressions about others from most office meetings than about the agenda of the meeting. You therefore do not want to make the wrong impression from your workplace meetings.
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The following are the phrases used by confident people that make them instantly stand out in meetings:
- Here is my perspective
This phrase doesn’t seek permission. It doesn’t apologize. It simply says, “I have a valid opinion, and you need to hear it.”
- That is a great point. I have something to add to that.
Now, confident people do not compete. They collaborate. So, they acknowledge other people’s opinion and add value to it.
- I see things a little differently and here’s why.
Confident people do not say “I disagree” because that sounds confrontational. Instead, they have a constructive conversation that honors the opinions of others and acknowledges that theirs might be wrong even though they believe that in the circumstance they are probably right.
- I don’t know the answer, but I’ll figure it out and get back to you.
Confidence is not about knowing everything. It is rather about owning what you don’t know and not being insecure about it.
Which of the above phrases do you appreciate and why? What other phrases do confident people use in meetings?
