1.

3 COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Managing first meetings

Lead-in
Suggested answers
1 In different cultures and between ……………. , there is often a significant …………….
in what people say and do during first …………….. For example, in some cultures, it
may be polite to ask lots of ……………. and to show ……………. . In other cultures, it
may be more respectful to be ……………. or say very …………….. For body
language, ……………. are expected in some contexts; in others, a …………….
and ……………. may be typical; in others, it may be appropriate to …………….
2 Many differences exist with both verbal and ……………. behaviour, and practices such
as gift-……………., types of ……………. worn, ……………. the relationship is built (at
home or in a restaurant), etc.
3 This is an important question as there are significant ……………. here across cultures
and personalities in terms of which comes first; in many cultures, for example, it is
impossible to do ……………. until a relationship and a level of ……………. has been
established. In addition, there are different expectations about how ……………. to spend
on relationship-building and how ……………. and trustful the relationship must be
before you can do business together.

2A, page 12

Matt Stephanie
1 Where do they
work?
2 What is their usual
job?
3 What is their
project role?
3B, page 12

Option A
1 With ……………. name (……………. )
2 Showing the ……………. and meeting people – because it’s important to build
a ……………. to work well together.
3 In this meeting Matt focuses on re……………. first. He tries to be in……………. ,
f……………. and p……………. , and wants Stefanie to meet the team in
the ……………. . Matt believes it is important to ……………. relationships as a
b ……………. for a project’s success. His approach is ……………. and confusing to
Stefanie at the beginning.
However, the result is p ……………. as Matt convinces Stefanie of the importance of
strong relationships, and she makes the new decision to stay in ……………. to help drive
the project.

Option B
1 With ………..……. (……….. ), ……………. (Farnham) and ……………. (head
of ……………. )
2 Because Stefanie only has ……………. hours and there are a few issues he would like
to discuss.
3 In this meeting Matt focuses on the ……………. work in the first meeting. Stefanie is
c……………. with this approach and the meeting allows them to d……………
important topics for the project. However, Matt is ……………. at the end of the meeting
if Stefanie is the right person for the project because he has left no time to get
to ……………. her, and he will now have to wait ……………….. before he meets her
again.

5, page 12
Question 2: Three main learning points which are described:
 know your ………………………….
 understand the ………………………………… of the other person
 decide on the …………………………………….. to have a ………………………….
on the other person