We sometimes find ourselves and newish
professional settings or social
situations where we're not exactly sure
how to contribute, what we should be
prioritizing. So let's talk about the top
three priorities that you should have
when you're in this new or novel situation.
I'm Alex Lyon and I'm here to
provide professional development tips to
help you increase your impact and lead
your teams with more excellence. If you
have never subscribed to this channel
before, I'd like to invite you to do so. I
think all these videos help people that
I call rising leaders. If you're a team
leader, front-line supervisor, or front-
line manager, everything on here is meant
to help you sharpen your skills. So go
ahead and subscribe, thumbs up the video,
if you like it, start commenting in the
section below. I'm really good about
responding to almost every single
comment people post so we can start a dialogue.
Okay. Now on to the lesson. I don't know
about you but a lot of times I feel like
my old moves at my old team might not
translate to a new setting. So now with
higher-level people or people I don't
know that well and I'm not really sure
how to jump in and contribute in a meaningful way.
Let's talk about three ways that you can
instantly position yourself as a
credible contributor to that group.
Number one. Open a communication channel.
That means non-verbally and verbally
open a line of communication to every
other single person in that room. So
let's just picture a room and several
other people and you walk into this
situation, you should instantly attempt
to make eye contact with every other
person in the room. You also verbally
want to say something to each person if
you can fit appropriate. Minimally, the
people next to you but certainly
everybody if this is pre-meeting, if
you're making small talk. So you open a
nonverbal and a verbal channel. If there's,
if it's appropriate and there's someone
there close enough to you shake their
hand especially if it's before the
meeting is starting,
especially if you're just introducing
yourself. Most, most places are still okay
with handshakes. I know a lot of places,
like. Don't touch. It's not Okay to touch.
But a handshake is still considered
appropriate and professional. And then
maintain, during the course of that
meeting, and continue to make eye contact,
continue to orient your body toward
people. You don't want to fall into the
trap of looking down at your computer or
your devices the entire time.
In fact, I have a whole separate video
about the downside of using devices in
meetings. I encourage you to watch that
I'll put a link in the description below
this video to that. So that's the first
step is opening a channel and
maintaining that channel the entire
meeting. The second step is to learn
every person's name. When I know
someone's name, I feel really equipped to
have a conversation with them because I
know who they are,
hopefully they know who I am, and now at
least you have a way to refer to that
person. You know their identity. So what I
like to do is I sit down to these
meetings especially in a new situation. I
take out an old-fashioned piece of paper
and write down everyone's name. A lot of
time people will introduce themselves,
for example, and as they go around, I make
notes about who's who. And that way,
throughout the meeting I can look at my
notes. And if I have a little down moment
where I'm not doing anything that's too
hard, I look down the list and I look at
their faces and I rehearse their names
in my head to really make sure I
engrain those names and own those names
by the end of that meeting and I really have
memorized everybody in the room.
It's really not that hard if you put
just a little bit of effort into it. So
now you know everybody's name. The third
step to contributing is to make sure you
add some kind of value to that meeting. You
don't just want to listen, although listening
is good.
You don't just want to be non-verbally
involved, although nonverbals are good.
You want to do things like offer your
opinion at least once or twice. Offer
some information. Ask a question that
leads the group in a positive direction.
Build on something that somebody else
has said. That's a really easy way to get
involved. You want to make sure you say
something. If you're at that meeting, you
have to realize, even if your brand new,
people expect you to contribute and say
something of value from the very first
meeting. You can't just sit around and
ramp up over the course of two, three,
four meetings. They want you contributing
right away.
In fact, I said something really useless.
In fact, it was a little confrontational
at a meeting once among some very high-
level people. And I felt kind of
embarrassed and I clammed up. And
afterwards, I said to my boss, I'm really
sorry that I said that. That was stupid. I
should have thought about my words more
carefully. He put his hand on my shoulder
and said, Alex, at least you said
something. Otherwise we're all going to
start wondering what you were paying,
we were paying you for. I thought, wow
that's a pretty graceful response. But,
even at that level, people want you
contributing. They want you from the very
first meeting to say something where you
add value. So don't be shy about it. Break
the ice. Contribute verbally something. So
those are the three ways that you can
prioritize your work in these meetings
And it is work. You have to go in with a
little bit of a plan into these meetings
so you show up as a professional, as
someone who is credible, as someone who
should be taken seriously by the other
people in the group. So I mentioned
earlier if you haven't yet subscribed, I
encourage you to do so. I encourage you
to look around the channel, find some
other videos that might help you move
your career forward, help you move your
team forward, and I look forward to
starting a conversation in the comments
section below this and other videos. So
thanks. God bless and I hope you get to
use the tips we are talking about your very
next team meeting.