You may usually work alone, but there will be many times when you have to hold conference calls with your subordinates. Conference calls can either go very smoothly or they can be a total waste of time. It all depends on how well they are organized ahead of time and how carefully they are managed.
Here are some things you should do to make sure your conference calls go more smoothly.
Outline your objectives before the call
You don’t want to hold a conference call to socialize with your colleagues and employees in other parts of the world. You need a clear list of meeting goals to make sure you are wasting everyone’s time.
Common conference call objectives include:
· Checking the status of important projects and making sure all applicable deadlines will be met
· Addressing any concerns with members of your teams
· Outlining new organizational goals for the months ahead
It is best to stick to a couple of broad goals, so everyone can cover them in sufficient detail. The number of issues you can cover and the amount of detail you can delve into depends on the amount of time allocated to the call.
Most conference calls shouldn’t go more than an hour unless absolutely necessary. People will start to lose their attention span after that and little will get done. Therefore, it is best to hold conference calls on multiple days if you have a lot of material to cover.
Hold everyone to basic rules of business etiquette
It’s easy to get frustrated during a business conference call. Many of the participants rarely interact with each other and often don’t understand each other’s social norms. Many common problems also don’t come to light until a conference call, so people can often be frustrated that they weren’t brought to anyone’s attention earlier.
You need to keep tensions as low as possible, so it sure everyone follows basic rules of Use . If anybody starts to raise their voice or become uncivil, you or a designated conference call moderator needs to redirect the conversation.
Be mindful of international differences
Many organizations are multinational these days. While you probably have many talented workers in other parts of the world, it can be difficult to communicate with them on international conference calls. You want to be aware of the following issues that may arise:
· Difficulty dealing with language barriers
· Challenges with different cultural norms
· Infrastructural problems may impede communication
You want to do everything possible to understand the intercultural challenges you may face and have some steps in place to deal with them.
Use Conference Calls Productively
Conference calls can be a good way to keep your business running smoothly and make sure everyone is one the same page. However, you need to make sure that the time is used appropriately. Be well organized and have your goals clearly outlined in advance.
