Meeting “Killers”
Going through some old desk drawers I found an article from the WSJ I had saved called ‘Meeting the Meeting Killers’ from May 16, 2012. I’ve been in a plethora of meetings over my years in and out of the corporate world. My thoughts on the ‘killers’ below:
| Meeting Killer | Level of Nuisance | Modus Operandi |
|---|---|---|
| The Jokester | 33% | cracks jokes and awaits response from co-workers |
| The Rambler | 66% | takes discussions to far-away places so people forget why they’re there |
| The Dominator | 100% | disrupts discussion, greatly overestimates value of his/her personal views |
| The Naysayer | 100% | waits until consensus is almost reached and derails meeting with major objections |
| The Quiet Plotter | 100% | remains quiet at meetings but later undermines leaders and decisions |
I’ve followed some of the advice in this article with success to overcome these potential meeting killers’ behavior. Take a serial “Naysayer” out to lunch before a meeting, getting them to vent and try to reach agreement to minimize the objections–this is a good idea even if you aren’t going to have a meeting! A person who complains is much more likely to bring attention to legitimate problems than a person who, out of apathy, sits in a meeting like a knot on a log.
I really liked the idea of handing a chocolate to a person who is rambling.
Some ground rules you can set that can be agreed upon starting a meeting:
- Before voicing complaint, be ready to offer a solution immediately
- Allocate space on a whiteboard for ‘moonshots’ and ‘rabbit holes’ for later discussion
- Don’t sit down! – standing meetings really keep the discussion moving
- Ask early for objections to keep them from derailing discussion later
- Interrupt people who talk too long or talk to each other
- Set an ending time for the meeting and stick to it
- Stop “Death by Powerpoint” – limit number of slides or even go with the 10-20-30 rule
Here’s the article – what do you think?
