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In order to make these meetings go smoothly, it’s important to plan for them carefully. Preparing an agenda in advance is especially important for a videoconference or conference call, since it’s easy for such meetings to devolve into confusion without one.
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It’s necessary to make sure that all the meeting participants are in agreement on what exactly has been decided or accomplished and that everyone knows what they need to do next.

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Responding to questions skillfully is important in order to maintain a good image both for yourself and for the content you are presenting. Half the battle is to stay unruffled. Meeting participants may not remember the exact content of what you said, but they will be sure to remember your tone Read More

Japanese firms need to find ways to extend their competitive strength in human resource development to their employees outside of Japan…although such global rotation programs make sense for high potentials being groomed for advancement to upper ranks, it's not practical to make this kind of opportu Read More

The contrast between the specialist-oriented career paths prevalent in the U.S. and the generalist-oriented career paths that are common in Japan can often clash, sometimes causing the parent company to loose valuable employees in the rotation shuffle. Read More

Just because people are debating a point intensively or excitedly does not necessarily mean that harmful conflict is occurring... On the other hand, allowing a harmful conflict to spin out of control and poison the atmosphere of the meeting is also not good.

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Something mentioned in the conversation has sparked a train of thought that temporarily distracts you, when your attention returns to the discussion you realize that you have missed important information. If you don’t do something, you risk having to sit through the rest of the meeting unable to c Read More

Choosing to use a language that others present do not understand may be viewed as intentionally being secretive and some of the participants who do not speak Japanese might feel left out or may even be offended...a little proper etiquette can make things smoother. Read More

What seems like a logical way of explaining things in Japanese may not necessarily seem logical in English. By switching to a more natural English discourse style, Japanese can increase their ability to be effective in meetings with non-Japanese. Read More

Japanese are often quiet in meetings because they have trouble getting a word in edgewise. When things are moving too quickly, or too much slang or technical jargon is being used, Japanese will lose the thread of the conversation.

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