Ten Characters You’ll Meet at a Business Meeting

Five Characters in Business Meetings

From Craig Harrison

In the Star Wars movie’s famous bar scene you knew, by their appearance, what zany character was sitting beside you. Each character had a distinctive look. Yet in business meetings you may have no idea about the group of characters with whom you’re meeting.

That’s because their normal outward appearances belie often troublesome behavior. Want to learn more about the crazy cast of characters you’re likely to encounter in your business meetings? Whether or not you’re armed with a light saber, you’ll nevertheless be better equipped to do battle with these often-destructive forces who subvert business meetings with their bothersome behavior. Learn more about ten dysfunctional characters you’ll meet in business meetings.

 

Monopolizer

The Monopolizer thinks he or she is the only one with wisdom on various subjects at the business meeting. The Monopolizer believes everyone else is there to hear him or her speak – and so they do – incessantly. They don’t appreciate business that meetings offer an opportunity to hear from many.

They prattle on and on, arrogantly acting as though their ideas or beliefs are inherently more important than those of other employees. Sadly other people shy away from contributing, intimidated by the Monopolizer’s strangle hold on the meeting.

When facilitators allow an employee to monopolize a business meeting, it sends the message that their rudeness is sanctioned. The facilitator, or even other meeting participants, should indicate an interest in hearing from others in the meeting, to remind the Monopolizer that others can speak as well as listen.

 

Tangent Talker

The Tangent Talker hijacks the topic of the group by taking discussions off on tangents – topics unrelated to the issue at hand. One minute you’re on topic and the next minute you’re in “left field” as your agenda topic has been taken on a tangent.

Your meeting leader’s ability to recognize the tangent and refocus is essential to a productive meeting. “Let’s remember to confine ourselves to the topic at hand” is a good way to get back on track. Alternately saying, “Let’s try to avoid tangents” also labels such behavior as contrary to the group’s aims. As well, you can “park” extraneous items in a “parking lot” list where they’re noted, if only to be addressed later.

 

Devil’s Advocate

Let’s face it, there’s a Devil’s Advocate in every crowd and in most business meetings, too. This person seems to relish taking the opposite tack. Whatever the argument being put forth, this person delights in taking an opposing view.

It’s sport for them, an exercise in opposition. The more unpopular the stance the more exciting they find the challenge. Often this employee begins by saying “just for the sake of argument – I believe the opposite is true.” While there is value in looking at issues from multiple points of view and to avoid group think, the Devil’s Advocate applies their technique to every issue, every argument and every conversation.

Hold on to your agenda and get comfortable. This could take a while. A good business meeting leader can praise this person’s ability to raise alternative issues. At the same time, the business meeting leader must indicate its inappropriateness, given time parameters or previously agreed upon issues.

 

Cynic

The ultimate naysayer, the Cynic has a Masters degree in negativity¹. Adroit at using the phrase, “it won’t work,” they are skilled at deflating and defeating whatever motion is in motion. “Can’t be done.” “They’ll never buy it.” “We tried it once and it was a failure.” Their motto: just say no.

Challenge cynical employees to think like the Devil’s Advocate; suppose for a minute that the idea or project could work. Use a common conflict resolution tool and ask the Cynic to embrace the other side’s point of view as if it were their own, and argue that side’s position.

 

Fence Sitter

Known for their paralysis by analysis, Fence Sitters are unable to make decisions. Despite being in a deliberative body, they are conflicted by multiple arguments, and can’t “pull the trigger” when it’s time to make a decision in a business meeting.

They provide fodder for the Devil’s Advocate, the Cynic, and other characters with their ambivalence. Whether they are afraid of being wrong, or of disagreeing with someone else, or just going on record, they are a meeting monster for their inability to move the action forward.

Try to cajole the Fence Sitter into action. Remind them that they have a vote and were invited to use it. Ask them their opinions on matters to draw them out and get them on record.

 

In the first part of this article¹, you learned about how to handle the Monopolizer, the Tangent Talker, the Devil’s Advocate, the Cynic, and the Fence Sitter. Now, you’ll discover how to deal with the Pandora’s Box Opener, the Brown Noser, the Attacker, the Joker, and the Robots.

Pandora’s Box Opener

These meeting monsters just have to tackle issues that are emotional, touchy or are “hot buttons” for others in the business meeting. In every business meeting there are topics that are sure to strike a nerve, to provoke an emotional reaction or enter the group into a quagmire.

The Pandora’s Box Openers lead the entire meeting into areas that provoke frustration, animosities, and often resentment too. Once this box is opened, it’s hard to get the issues back into the box. Discussions of salaries, promotions or personal styles often stir up issues that hijack meetings. Even worse, some culprits reopen issues from earlier in the business meeting that have already been resolved.

The best cure: a firm “let’s not go there” from the meeting’s facilitator. Other phrases like “let’s cross that bridge when we get there” or “that’s a hornets nest we don’t need to disturb” labels certain subjects out of bounds for the business meeting

 

Brown Noser

There’s likely a sycophant in many business meetings. This employee is obsequious, bending over backwards to ingratiate himself or herself to the boss, the meeting leader or another power broker. They’re so busy currying favor with others, they subvert whatever true feelings they have about issues.

This employee is seen by other employees to be in the pocket of the person to whom they’re cow-towing. Ultimately they are seen for who they are and become predictable and not trusted.

Try to elicit their ideas and preferences before asking others as a way of drawing them out.

 

Attacker

As children these people were bullies. Some still haven’t grown up. The Attacker deftly mixes negativity with personal attacks, challenging others’ ideas with vigor. Without regard to hurting others’ feelings, the Attacker uses a confrontational style to object to others’ ideas and go against the flow. Sadly, sometimes they don’t even realize they’re attacking.

A good facilitator can refocus the Attacker to be positive, to remove the sting from their words and avoid an adversarial approach. All meeting participants are entitled to stop the meeting when attacked personally. Ad hominem attacks are attacks against one’s person. People can criticize your actions or beliefs, but you don’t have to tolerate attacks against who you are as a person.

 

Joker

Don’t let the Joker’s good nature fool you, Jokers can be meeting monsters. Their constant joking has the effect of diminishing others’ serious ideas or suggestions. Their infusion of humor can belittle others’ motions and makes it difficult for some to be taken seriously.

There is a time and place for joking. While we all like a good laugh, constant joking disrupts a meeting and distracts attention from where it should be.

A business meeting leader can designate several minutes at the start or middle of a business meeting specifically for humor. When it crops up elsewhere and is deemed disruptive, the leader can remind people that the time for humor is passed or forthcoming, so as to control it.

 

Robots

Yep, these meeting monsters are actually cell phones, pagers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and laptop computers. Each distracts their owner and others, too, as they intrude upon participants’ attention spans during business meetings.

A good meeting leader will create ground rules or norms² for business meetings, including turning off these gadgets at their outset. It’s hard to compete with human distractions, let alone electronic ones as well.

As you can see, business meetings are full of characters. Study participant behavior in meetings, including your own behavior, to better understand your style of interaction. The character of your business meetings will surely be affected by the characters in your meeting. May the force be with you.

 

Effective Meetings Produce Results: Tips for Meeting Management

Ensure Results by Planning Before the Meeting

By Susan M. Heathfield, About.com Guide

Copyright Lisa Gagne

People spend so much time in meetings that turning meeting time into sustained results is a priority for successful organizations. Actions that make meetings successful require management before, during, and after the meeting.

If you neglect any one of these meeting management opportunities, your meetings will not bear the fruit you desire from the time you invest in meeting. Take these twelve meeting management actions to guide meeting attendees to achieve expected, positive, and constructive outcomes.

 

Before the Meeting to Ensure Effective Meetings

Actions before the meeting establish the groundwork for accomplishing meeting results. You can do all of the needed follow-up, but without an effective meeting plan to start, your results will disappoint you.

Plan the Meeting

Effective meetings that produce results, begin with meeting planning. First, identify whether other employees are needed to help you plan the meeting. Then, decide what you hope to accomplish by holding the meeting. Establish doable goals for your meeting. The goals you set will establish the framework for an effective meeting plan. As Stephen Covey says in the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, “Begin with the end in mind.” Your meeting purpose will determine the meeting focus, the meeting agenda, and the meeting participants.

Make Sure You Need a Meeting

Once you’ve developed your meeting plan, ensure that a meeting is the appropriate vehicle for accomplishing the set goals. To schedule and hold a meeting is expensive when you account for the time of the people attending. So, make efforts to determine that a meeting is the best opportunity to solve the problem, improve the process, or make an ongoing plan.

You may find that you can accomplish the meeting goals with an email discussion or by distributing and requesting information through the company newsletter. Make sure the meeting is needed and not just convenient for you – you’ll get better results from attendees.

Ensure Appropriate Participation at the Meeting

If a meeting is the appropriate means to accomplish your goals, check with the participants who must attend for the meeting to succeed. The needed attendees must be available to attend the meeting. Postpone the meeting rather than holding a meeting without critical staff members. If a delegate attends in the place of a crucial decision maker, make sure the designated staff member has the authority to make decisions – or postpone the meeting.

Distribute and Review Pre-work Prior to the Meeting

How many meetings have you attended that started out with the meeting facilitator passing out a ream of handouts or projecting a Microsoft PowerPoint slide for discussion? Frustrating? You bet. The meeting becomes a group read-in, hardly productive for goal accomplishment. You can make meetings most productive and ensure results by providing necessary pre-work in advance of the actual meeting. Providing pre-work, charts, graphs, and reading material 48 hours before a meeting affects meeting success. The more preparation time you allot, the better prepared people will be for your meeting.

Documentation that will help you achieve the meeting goals can include reports; data and charts such as competitive information, sales month-to-date, and production plans; Microsoft PowerPoint slides that illustrate key discussion points; and minutes, notes and follow-up from earlier or related meetings and projects. Pre-work distributed in a timely manner, with the serious expectation that attendees will read the pre-work before the meeting, helps ensure meeting success.

 

During the Meeting to Ensure Effective Meetings

Effective use of meeting time builds enthusiasm for the topic. It generates commitment and a feeling of accomplishment from the participants. People feel part of something bigger than their day-to-day challenges. Therefore, a well-facilitated, active meeting, that sets the stage for follow-up, will produce meeting results.

Effective Meeting Facilitation

The meeting leader sets a positive, productive tone for interaction among the meeting participants. Effective meeting facilitation starts with a review of the goals, or anticipated outcomes, and the agenda. The facilitator helps group members stay focused and productive. Meeting design and the agenda set the framework for the meeting. An effective facilitator, who keeps participants on track, ensures the accomplishment of expected, desired results from the meeting.

Use the Pre-work in the Meeting

Use or reference the pre-work and other information supplied prior to the meeting during the meeting. You reinforce the need for participants to spend the time needed upfront to review material that is integral to accomplishing the desired results. You participants will prepare prior to attending your meetings and your results will bear testimony to solid preparation and leadership.

Involve Each Participant in Actions

Every work group has various personalities that show up for meetings. You have quiet coworkers and people who try to dominate every platform. Whether facilitating or attending the meeting, you need to involve each attendee in the accomplishment of the meeting goals.

This ensures that each participant is invested in the topic of the meeting and in the follow-up. You’ll accomplish more results with the whole team pulling than with one dominant staff person trying to push everyone else up the hill.

Create an Effective Meeting Follow-up Plan

During the meeting, make a follow-up plan with action items. Effective plans include:

• the specific action item,
• the name of the person who committed to “owning” the accomplishment of the action item,
• the due date of the action item,
• an agreement about what constitutes completion of the action item.

Discuss real life scenarios and barriers to success that team members may experience as they try to accomplish the items that will produce the required results. Set a time for your next meeting, if needed, while participants are in attendance.

After the Meeting to Ensure Effective Meetings

Actions and planning before and during the meeting play a big role in helping you achieve expected, positive, and constructive outcomes. Your actions following the meeting are just as crucial. Follow-up at the next scheduled meeting is never enough of an investment to ensure results.

Publish Meeting Minutes

Begin by publishing your minutes and action plan within 24 hours. People will most effectively contribute to results if they get started on action items right away. They still have a fresh memory of the meeting, the discussion and the rationale for the chosen direction. They remain enthusiastic and ready to get started. A delay in the distribution of minutes will hurt your results since most people wait for the minutes to arrive before they begin to tackle their commitments.

Effective Meeting Follow-up

Respecting and observing deadlines and follow-up will help you achieve results from your meetings. The deadline was established during the meeting. Following the meeting, each person with an action item should also make a plan for their personal accomplishment of their commitment. Whether they write the steps in their planner, delegate the tasks to another staff person, or just complete the task, the individual is responsible for follow-up.

So is the meeting planner. You can improve meeting results by following up with each person who has an action item mid-way between meetings. Your goal is to check progress and ensure that tasks are underway. Remember that what you ask about gets accomplished.

Accountability for Follow-up during the Next Meeting

Have you ever sat in a follow-up meeting that consisted of each participant telling the group why they were unable to accomplish their commitment? I have, and the result is deplorable. Establishing the norm or custom of accountability for results begins early in your meeting cycle.

Follow-up by the facilitator mid-way between meetings helps, but the group must make failure to keep commitments unacceptable. Report on progress and outcomes at the next meeting and expect that all will have been accomplished. Alternatively, check progress at the next meeting and if there is a real roadblock to progress, determine how to proceed.

Debrief the Meeting Process for Continuous Improvement

The practice of debriefing each meeting is a powerful tool for continuous improvement. Participants take turns discussing what was effective or ineffective about the current meeting process. They also discuss the progress they feel the group is making on the topic of the meeting.

Taking continuous improvement to another level, successful teams debrief their entire project as well as the process to determine how effectively they managed to create results. Future meetings reflect the evaluation. Meetings evolve as an even more effective tool for creating organization results.

Conclusion

Results are achievable and predictable from well-planned and implemented meetings. Follow these twelve recommendations to ensure that meeting attendees achieve expected, positive, and constructive outcomes from the time invested in meetings.