Treats

Words to the wise - See others

Don’t skimp the small talk

Almost every quote about ‘small talk’ seems to be about how much people dislike it, think it inconsequential or think they aren’t good at it. That’s not the point, so thank you Lynn Coady for spelling out what small talk actually is. If you’re introverted like some are, small talk is not something that will ever came easy to you – there’s a tendency in meetings to leap straight to the agenda topic, bypassing the opening social niceties that may seem to be a waste of time. However, once you realize that the role of small talk is to forge connections quickly, you never look back.

Although we still think we stink at it, we always try to make a conscious effort not to short-cut this important phase of a meeting. Let the small talk go on as long as it needs to – some of the best meetings can be 25 minutes small talk with 5 minutes of business tagged on at the end.

“…small talk is a quick way to connect on a human level - which is why it is by no means as irrelevant as the people who are bad at it insist. In short, it's worth making the effort”

– Lynn Coady, Author