Author: Iulia Grosman

How to chair a meeting?

Posted on May 28, 2020 by - learning, videos

 

Having effective meetings can be a daunting exercise. This holds especially true when we are talking about a meeting amongst peers without a formal hierarchy or a formal chairperson. Even under those circumstances there are some tips, tricks, and formulae you can use to make your meetings more streamlined and effective.

 

 

 

The fact that the meeting has no formal chair does not need to mean that there can be no role division of tasks. You can even argue that in this case having a role division only becomes more important. One effective and interesting way you can divide tasks is by looking into the three P’s.

 

The first of these P’s is the P for Product. The person in charge of Product makes sure that that the meeting has clear objectives, as well as a workable agenda. This person is essential for making sure the meeting is effective and does not stray too much of the path.

 

The second P stands for Process. No meeting can be effective without proper time management, so it is important that someone keeps close watch on this. This task can be neatly combined with taking notes or minutes of the meeting to make sure that the discussions and their outcomes will not be lost from memory in due time.

 

Lastly there is the P for People. Everyone in a meeting has a reason to be there and has the potential to contribute something meaningful to it. The important and rewarding task to make sure this diversity of thought and experience is used to its fullest falls to the person in charge of this P.

 

Giving some thought into who will take which task can make your meetings much more structured, effective, and efficient. Of course, there is no reason that the same person should always have the same tasks, so feel free to shake things up a bit every once in while!

 

 

Product

Process

People

 

 

Who is Anne?

Anne de Wergifosse is one of our key trainers at AIM & Associés, she is passionate about individual and collective support. She delivers the Productive Team Meetings at the European School of Administration, as well as many tailor-made team buildings for the European Institutions, agencies and bodies.

 

 

Where to start when there is too much work to do?

Posted on May 28, 2020 by - learning, videos

No matter how stressful a situation may be when there is too much work to do, it is important to keep one key fact in mind: no good will ever come from panicking. Taking a deep breath and getting yourself a nice and warm cup of coffee or a glass of water is much more effective than diving right into the action like a headless chicken.

 

 

 

Now that you are relaxed again the next step in establishing order is to record every single thing you still need to do, down to the very smallest of chores. This may seem daunting but will help you to establish order further down the road.

 

The next step is to also record why all of this work need to be done. Is the task for today’s meeting, a favour to the boss, or a more long-term priority? Writing this down and becoming consciously aware of this will help you to be more effective.

 

Whilst you are doing this it might become clear that some of these tasks fit together logically. Maybe they are all part the same mini project, or all use the same software. Make sure to group these together so that you can also do them together.

 

The final step is to create realistic expectations about when your listed tasks can and will be finished: not everything can be done right this very moment, and neither is that necessary. It is important that you are honest about this both for yourself and towards those around you.

 

At the end of this whole process you will have created both an effective to-do list, and a to-do later list. These will help you navigate even some of the tougher stressful situations with a clear mind, and a much greater personal effectiveness.

 

 

Don’t spend time panicking,

spend time planning ;)!

 

 

Who is Katie?

Katie Challans is one of our key trainers at AIM & Associés. She delivers the Personal Effectiveness course at the European School of Administration, as well as its online version. She can help you master your day as well as your outlook on things ;).

 

 

How to Improve your Public Speaking?

Posted on May 28, 2020 by - development, learning, videos

Many people have a great fear of public speaking. Having a safe environment in which to practice and learn from and together with your peers can greatly help you to improve your ability to speak in practice. Public speaking is best not viewed in isolation. By receiving feedback you can become aware of what you are already doing well and get rewarded for continuing to do it. The setting of interpersonal communication also allows you to gain a great amount of ideas for improving yourself, followed up by plenty of immediate chances to work on those improvement points.

 

 

 

Self-confidence can often be key in delivering a good performance in public speaking. Having the gusto to keep active eye contact, thus remaining in touch with your audience, can greatly increase the impact of an act of public speaking. Simultaneously you will get the chance to practice your verbal skills, your tone of voice and pacing, as well as effective use of body language. Other focus points include making sure your words are effectively structured as well as the often forgotten, but nonetheless crucial emotional content of your message. Practicing a great deal in a highly interpersonal setting therefore greatly helps you to accelerate your growth as a public speaker.

 

Who is Jean-François?

Jean-François Abeloos is one of our key trainers at AIM & Associés, he is passionate about Emotional Intelligence. He delivers Oral Communication and Oral Communication while Teleworking at the European School of Administration, as well as Conflict Resolution for the European Institutions, agencies and bodies.

 

 

How to Manage Conflict and Still Feel Well?

Posted on May 13, 2020 by - learning, stories, videos

As unpleasant though they may be, interpersonal conflicts of all sorts and sizes happen and will happen to all of us. Invariably someone will end up pushing your buttons, end you are faced with the consequences of it. No matter how unpleasant this feeling may be, there are certain things you can do to manage conflict while still feeling well.

 

 

The natural response that we tend to default to when faced with conflict is the so-called outward approach. We will blame the other person for the fact that we feel bad. Using this mindset, the logical next step would be to seek to change the situation, first and foremost by trying to get the other person to change their behaviour. Though this approach can work in certain rare cases, putting the onus completely on the other makes for a tiresome and exasperating approach. Instead, it might be worthwhile to realise that when someone manages to push your buttons, the problem lies with you having these buttons in the first place.

 

That brings us to a different way of tackling this situation: the inward approach. Instead of shoving the blame of an unpleasant situation onto someone else, we instead take a break and truly listen to ourselves. Instead of initially focusing on the mental side of this problem, we focus on the physical. Truly listening and experiencing your own heartbeat, breath and general physical sensation can help you acknowledge what you are feeling and give it a place. You might start to notice patterns when you do this: do you often feel the same way or have the same thoughts over and over. Becoming aware of this is a good first step in regaining control of yourself and to stop seeing yourself as a passive victim.

 

Using the inward approach rather than the outward approach can help you to master yourself and develop a greater self-awareness. It also prevents you from getting stuck in a dynamic of blaming others or fruitlessly trying to master external circumstances. This should help you to manage conflict, while still feeling well.

 

 

 

How skilled are you to adopt an inward approach to conflicts?

 

 

Who is Séverine?

Séverine Buyse is an AIM Trainer & Coach, facilitating resilience and wellbeing training for the EU Institutions for the past 10 years. She delivers the Create your own Wellbeing in Times of Crisis at the European School of Administration, as well as Compassionate Communication for the European Institutions, agencies and bodies.

 

 

 

 

Why is Facing Change so Important?

Posted on May 12, 2020 by - learning, videos

Life has a habit of constantly throwing new things and challenges our way. We find ourselves constantly facing a constant stream of changes. These might include changes of management, colleagues or even a completely new job environment. Navigating this state of constant flux can be a tough challenge. Being able to face change, as well as being able to put change into perspective can help you to tackle these changes with ease and open new avenues of personal development.

 

 

Over time we gather a surprising amount of set routines, habits, and values. Some of these habits might have even stuck around for long enough for us to no longer be actively conscious of them. You will learn to identify these habits and to detach yourself from unhelpful ones. Embracing all of these changes, without seeing yourself as a victim of them can greatly help you to accelerate your personal development.

 

 

 

Who is Sabine?

Sabine Finzi is one of our key trainers at AIM & Associés, she is passionate systemic coaching. She delivers Facing Change and Facing Change in Challenging Times at the European School of Administration, as well as Innovation: From creativity to reality for the European Institutions, agencies and bodies.

 

 

How to Prepare for a Negotiation?

Posted on May 1, 2020 by - learning, stories, videos

We have all faced this situation at some point: you need to prepare for a negotiation, and you do not rightly know how. Luckily, there are many things you can do to prepare yourself in this situation. One of the tools you can use is making a strategic analysis of all the people and parties involved in a negotiation (including yourself). Having the right information after all, is key for being adequately prepared.

 

 

The first part of the analysis is pinning down is the likely objective of the parties involved in a negotiation. What do you think the goals are they are trying to achieve? An example of this could be being confronted with a status quo-oriented party that wants things to remain exactly as they are.

 

Having determined the goal of the negotiation a logical follow-up step is to then start looking at the assets that a given party can bring to the table. What is it that they have to offer, and what might help them in pushing for their goals? If we continue our example from the previous paragraph, our status quo-oriented negotiator might have an almost dazzling command of the facts and can positively drown you and everyone else in them to try to stall the negotiations.

 

Of course, no-one only has assets. There can also be limiting factors that can prevent you from achieving your goals: constraints. It is well imaginable that our status quo partner might have poor relations with the other parties in a negotiation and is not particularly well-liked.

 

No analysis of a negotiation can be complete without figuring out what the stakes for the parties involved are. What can a party gain from a negotiation, or conversely, what do they stand to lose if things fall apart. Drawing upon our example again, the status quo negotiation might be confronted with a substantially increased workload should the negotiation not go their way.

 

Now that we have made an analysis of all the elements involved in the strategic analysis, we should be able to extrapolate an effective strategy from these elements. If we do a similar analysis for ourselves and all the other parties involved in a negotiation we should be able to have a both a solid idea of the strategy we will be using, and have a good idea of what to expect from our fellow negotiators. Good luck!

 

 

Who is Neil?

Neil Urquhart is a veteran communication skills trainer, coach and facilitator with 20+ years international experience on four continents in Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Brazil, Belgium, Egypt, Sweden, Spain and the UK. He delivers the Day-to-day Negotiation at the European School of Administration, as well as Analysing and Solving Problems in Times of Crisis for the European Institutions, agencies and bodies.

 

Breathing-Space

Posted on January 1, 2020 by - development, learning, stories