Has your manager ever asked you to sit in a meeting as their "proxy"? Read on for some helpful tips on becoming a trusted back up …
First, don’t panic.
Step back and take in the compliment. He or she feels confident that you can cover the topic and adequately represent you.
Next, don’t let it go to your head. You aren’t be asked to take his / her job and what you do before the call, during the call and after the call will determine if he/she asks you to do it again.
I recommend the following (in fact I do this everything I am asked to sit in for my boss, their boss or my peers):
Stage
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DO
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DO NOT
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Before
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Accept the meeting invite, adjust your calendar to accommodate, and alert organizer that you will be representing your boss/organization.
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Miss the meeting because you have not ensured it is on your calendar or you did not confirm with organizer and were missed when an update was made.
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Before
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Ensure you have a basic understanding of the meeting. If you do not, ask boss for a pre-meeting meeting.
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Show up unprepared for the meeting. Or treat the meeting like an afterthought.
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Before
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If it isn’t in the calendar invite, it is acceptable to ask for the agenda from the organizer (or their administrative assistant) ahead of time.
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Don’t demand an agenda. If one doesn’t exist, you can ask about topics that will be discussed? If a team member hadn’t done this in my past role, I wouldn’t mention this …
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During
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Show up to the meeting ON TIME both the bridge line, skype session or zoom. If invited to a video conference, USE the video conference. Be engaged and be taking active notes.
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Don’t be multi-tasking.
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During
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Follow others lead on whether you announce. If you do announce, ensure you include that you are representing bosses name/organization.
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During
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Make sure you are on mute when not talking. Make sure your phone / headset are picking up your voice clearly. Make sure you are at a location where dogs, kids, T-rexes, and zombies are not
loud and distracting in the background.
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Make sure when you do talk that you do not cause an echo or that your mic isn’t too close to your mouth (Darth Vadar Syndrome). Truth – Our CTO, VN, once stopped a call to pin point WHO was
causing the echo on a bridge. It wasn’t someone on my team, but it was SO embarrassing and the $$ it cost the bank due to that individual not being aware.
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During
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Take in the meeting. Ask sound questions. And, remember, if you do not know the answer to a question or how your boss would answer that it is OKAY to say, I don’t know or I will get a response
from my boss and back to you.
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Do not use meeting for your own agenda. Do not go down rabbit holes or bring your soapbox. Seriously, an organizer once asked me not to send an FTE as my proxy because he was a distraction.
Yikes!!
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After
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Send boss your notes and observations immediately after the meeting.
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Don’t wait until formal notes are published. Giving them immediately allows action to be taken quickly and readies boss to respond to the formal notes / minutes.
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I want to wrap up Thursday Thoughts with you thinking about BIG IDEAS. Here are some quotes to get your brain uncaked:
- Take out your brain and jump on it – it gets all caked up. Mark Twain.
- Contentment is the SMOTHER of invention. Ethel Mumford
- Big ideas are so hard to recognize, so fragile, so easy to kill. Don’t forget that, all of you who don’t have them. – John Elliot, Jr.
- New ideas are like loaves of bread. They often emerge from the oven looking half-baked, homely and lumpy. Give them a chance to rise. Chic Thompson
- Form a habit of saying YES to a good idea. Then list all the reasons why it will work. There will always be plenty of people to tell you why it won’t work. – Gil Atkinson
Think BIG! Get out of your way, uncake your brains and allow time for your ideas to RISE!
Cheers!
srt
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