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The Committee Captain: Lessons in Meeting Facilitation 主持人必读：会议航行顺利的葵花宝典

课文朗读

课文讲解

繁體中文譯本

Like ships, meetings need a captain to steer them clear of danger and arrive safely at a destination. To celebrate a productive and comfortable environment, a meeting facilitator must captain a meeting while encouraging maximum participation from those attending.

就像一艘船，会议需要一位船长领航，以避开凶险安抵目标。为了让会议气氛舒适、有利于讨论，会议主持人必须掌好舵，鼓励在场与会者尽量参与。

Outspoken individuals often dominate meetings and monopolize speaking time. To increase participation, a facilitator should actively solicit the opinions of quieter participants, even at the expense of interrupting more verbose individuals. Failing to do so may leave quieter participants feeling frustrated and lower their sense of inclusion with decisions reached.

能言善道者往往把持会议，垄断发言的时间。为增加参与热度，会议主持人应该主动征询比较沉默的与会者意见，甚至不惜打断滔滔不绝的发言人。若未能这样做，很可能让比较沉默的与会者感觉挫折，觉得即使达成决议，自己参与的程度也不深。

Facilitating meetings with largegaps in seniority between participants is particularly challenging. Such meetings often result in groupthink, where the pressure to conform opinions to those of senior individuals can lead to poor decision making. In such cases, the facilitator should aim to encourage disagreement and discourage disparaging comments. One means of encouraging disagreement is to nominate a devil’s advocate, or one who argues against a position regardless of their personal convictions.

如果你要主持的会议，与会者间资历落差很大，挑战性会特别高。这种会议往往形成群体迷思，无形压力会促使人附和位高权重者的意见，使得决策质量低落。在这种情况，会议主持人应该把重点放在鼓励异议者发表意见，抑制责难式的评语。有一方法可以有效地鼓励异议份子发言，就是执行「为反对而反对」的发言措施，也就是指定某位发言人，不论他自己持何种意见，都必需提出反对立场的看法。

In short, the flagship quality of good facilitation is the ability to create an impartial and unbiased atmosphere where opposing sides of an issue can be discussed. Only then can meetings be sailed through rough seas to the shores of successful decisions.

简而言之，会议领航员的最大特色就是要创造出不偏不倚的会议气氛，如此一来，议题正反双方的意见才能真正得到讨论。也惟有这样，会议才能安全航过汹涌大海，抵达彼岸，获致成功的决议。

Vocabulary

单词发音

facilitation [fə͵sɪləˋteʃən] n. 简易化；促进

facilitator [fəˋsɪlə͵tetɚ] n. 促进者﹐推动者; 协调人

captain [ˋkæptɪn] v. 指挥; 领导

outspoken [aʊtˋspokən] adj. 坦率的；直言不讳的

monopolize [məˋnɑp!͵aɪz] v. 垄断; 独占; 完全控制

solicit [səˋlɪsɪt] v. 征求；征集; 请求；恳求

verbose [vɚˋbos] adj.【正式】啰唆的; 累赘的; 冗长的

inclusion [ɪnˋkluʒən] n. 包括在整体中的某人[某物]; 包括；包含

seniority [sinˋjɔrətɪ] n. 年资﹐ 资历

groupthink ['grupθɪŋk] n. 群体思维

conform [kənˋfɔrm] v. 遵照，遵守[（+to/with）]

poor [pʊr] adj. 劣质的；糟糕的

discourage [dɪsˋkɝɪdʒ] v. 劝阻; 阻挡，防止

disparaging [dɪsˋpærɪdʒɪŋ] adj.〔言语等〕贬低的; 轻视的; 诋毁的; 损害名声的

nominate [ˋnɑmə͵net] v. 任命，指定

devil’s advocate [ˋædvəkɪt] 故意提出异议以激发辩论的人; 故意唱反调的人

conviction [kənˋvɪkʃən] n. 确信，信念

flagship [ˋflæg͵ʃɪp] n.〔某公司拥有或生产的产品﹑建筑等中〕最重要者; 旗舰

impartial [ɪmˋpɑrʃəl] adj. 不偏不倚的，公正的

unbiased [ʌnˋbaɪəst] adj. 无偏见的

Sentence of the Day

Some people just love the sound of their own voice.

有些人喜欢讲话滔滔不绝，不管别人。

课文讲解

Kelly and James have just left their weekly marketing meeting and are stepping out for lunch:  凯莉和詹姆士刚开完每周例行的营销会议，两人正要出去吃饭：

K: You know, I find those meetings really frustrating. They’re such a waste of time. The managers do all the talking. We’re just there for window dressing!

你晓得吗，我觉得那些会议真令人感到挫折，多么浪费时间啊。经理们从头讲到尾，我们只是来当装饰品而已！

J: Well, the problem is that there’s no real debate or discussion. Everyone is afraid of contradicting the boss.

问题在于从来没有真正的辩论或讨论。每个人都怕与老板唱反调。

K: And by feigning agreement, we’re perpetuating the problem. Worst of all, sometimes we help make decisions we actually disagree with!

而且因为我们是假装同意，结果让问题继续拖延下去。最糟的是，有时候我们帮忙完成的决定，其实我们自己并不真正赞成。

J: Yeah, and we end up rationalizing those decisions `cos we have no choice but to live with them.

是啊，最后我们只好让这些决定合理化，让它们显得合情合理，因为【注】我们必须与之共存，别无选择。

K: Well, first of all, I think the chair needs to encourage more disagreement by supporting those who speak up. The tone is definitely a little curt sometimes if a dissenting voice is heard.

首先，我想主席应该多鼓励异议者发言，使不同的声音也被听到。有时候异议份子发声，主席的口气就显得不耐烦些。

J: If we just had some way of stating our real opinions without putting our heads on the line ….

如果我们有办法表达自己的意见，却又不用把头伸进火线里…

K: I hear that the Engineering Department has an anonymous feedback suggestion box. Employees can say that they feel about decisions without giving their names. Decisions are still up to the managers, but everyone can provide input.

我听说工程部门有一个匿名信箱接受建议。员工不用讲自己名字，也能陈述对公司决策的看法。公司决策当然最终由经理人做决定，但是每个人都能提供建言。

J: Good idea. Well, here’s my feedback: I’m hungry, let’s eat!

好主意。现在我的响应就是：饿死了，我们去吃饭吧！

－by David Wand

【注】：「`cos」是「because」的口语拼音。

Vocabulary

单词发音

window dressing  粉饰橱窗（编造账目，从而提高股票账面值）something used to create a deceptively favorable or attractive impression

contradict [͵kɑntrəˋdɪkt] v. 反驳; 抗辩; 否认

feign [fen] v.【文】装作，假装

perpetuate [pɚˋpɛtʃʊ͵et] v. 使…延续

rationalize [ˋræʃən!͵aɪz] v. 使合理化

speak up 不顾忌地道出 to speak without fear or hesitation

curt [kɝt] adj. 简短而失礼的; 唐突无礼的

dissent [dɪˋsɛnt] v. 不同意，持异议

anonymous [əˋnɑnəməs] adj. 匿名的

input [ˋɪn͵pʊt] n. 投入（物）〔指向工作﹑会议等提供的意见﹑建议﹑资金﹑努力等〕

Sentence of the Day

James wishes he could speak his mind at meetings.

詹姆士希望自己能在会议上吐真言。

speak one’s mind  坦白说出内心的话