Parties in the office environment are all for work purposes; no party is purely to eat. But should we discuss business at those times?
A small party not only helps to strengthen the relationship between leaders and employees, but also facilitates many business transactions, and is also an important occasion to get to know people. Dinners are very important in bringing people together, especially working people, but many people do not know how to use such parties effectively, eventually self-harm. bring you unnecessary trouble.
Why is it that some people easily make new friends at parties, and some people just bump into each other, not getting anything but causing more damage? The reason might be that they unintentionally mentioned work while at the party.
Keep in mind the following 4 sincere tips to “preserve your life”!
1. Having dinner with customers should not actively discuss business
Due to the nature of their work, marketers have to invite customers to dinner. To reach an agreement regularly, they first need to draw closer to the customer.
You can invite a customer to dinner; if the customer is willing to accept your invitation, you hope to close the order, but you also can’t force the customer to have dinner with you too much, which will make customers feel uncomfortable.
Another point to note is that when attending a dinner party, you should only chat with them, not talk about work, make customers feel that the purpose of inviting them to dinner is not for the table. About the order, you sincerely want to meet them to make friends.
As your relationship grows, customers will naturally become interested in your business without you actively asking. Although you don’t directly talk about work at the dinner party, the process of eating is also the process in which you get the job done.
2. Intimate meal with colleagues, no business discussion
In the company, eating with colleagues is inevitable; in addition to the company’s team-building or year-end summaries, we often go out to eat with colleagues on weekdays.
When dining with colleagues, the most important thing is not talking about work but fostering a closer relationship. The most common connection in the workplace is a co-worker. Since co-workers are the people closest to you at work, if you have problems at work, you can solve them right in the office without bringing them up while eating.
The purpose of co-workers’ gathering is to relax and relieve work pressure. Talking about work will make each other very disappointed and uninterested, which also leads to the relationship between you and your colleagues. Colleagues gradually distanced themselves, creating a disadvantage for you at work.
In addition to friendship, in the office, there is also a relationship of competing for mutual benefits between colleagues, so if you talk too much about work issues, it will easily arouse the defensive mentality of colleagues, ruining the meal. At the same time, harmony may reveal some work secrets, causing unnecessary losses.
Therefore, when eating with colleagues, we should only focus on entertainment; work, no matter how stressful, should be temporarily put aside.
3. When having lunch with company leaders, don’t talk about work
Many corporate dinners are often held in the form of departments or all employees; no matter what form, as long as the company organizes the dinner party, there will be bosses involved.
Should we discuss business with leaders at those parties? The answer depends on the boss’s age. Young bosses will mostly share the same language with employees and can talk freely, making employees not feel too constrained. So if you have two options and still choose to discuss work when partying, it will make your boss think that you are faking maturity and want to impress them.
The older bosses will maintain a dignified appearance and often do not joke with employees. Such bosses do not fool around, giving employees a feeling of distance, and employees will also be more afraid of older bosses like this. If you’re an employee and you happen to be sitting at the dinner table with such a boss, you can discuss some of the problems you face at work with that boss.
This is mainly to maintain a steady topic of conversation and keep a good impression with the leadership. An employee who even thinks about work while eating is often liked by leaders with a dignified personality.
But when discussing work, it is best not to ask questions constantly and not to oppose the leader’s point of view, forcing them to follow yours. Let’s discuss this at the leader’s discretion; it is best to have a little humour so that the party’s atmosphere is not too severe.
4. In the company’s external affairs, it’s best to listen to other people discuss the business
As an employee, more or less will have to participate in the company’s external activities. This type of party is usually guests from other places or VIP guests from other companies. In this case, you have to be aware of your identity, coordinate with the company’s leaders and listen to the conversation between your boss and the guest.
Unless your boss signals you to speak, it’s best to keep quiet, as employees are often seen as the roadblocks for this type of dinner, not the main protagonists of the feast. If you keep talking arbitrarily, it will be easy to offend your boss and make guests dislike your company.
For external parties with the participation of leaders, employees shouldn’t participate in the boss’s topic actively; you need to do an excellent job of serving, pay attention to changes in the information on the dining table, and absorb information that is beneficial to yourself is okay.
If the leader only speaks by your name, it must be based on the actual situation, and do not talk about topics related to personal work. No one will want to listen to your complaints because a party isn’t a late-night talk.
