The Characters of a Meeting: Which One Are You?

In the Star Wars movie's famous bar scene you knew, by appearance, what zany character was sitting beside you. Each character had a distinctive look. Yet in meetings you may have no idea the constellation of characters that you're meeting with. That's because their normal outward appearances belie often troublesome behavior. Use this article as your guide to the crazy cast of characters you're likely to encounter in your meetings. Whether or not you're armed with a light saber, you'll nevertheless be equipped to do battle with these oft-destructive forces who subvert meetings with their bothersome behavior.

The Monopolizer
This person thinks he or she is the only one with wisdom on subjects. The monopolizer believes everyone else is there to hear him or her speak, and so they do, incessantly. They don't appreciate 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 others. Sadly other people shy away from contributing, intimidated by the monopolizer's stranglehold on the meeting. When facilitators allow this it sends a message 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.

The Tangent Talker
This person 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 to a tangent. Your meeting chair's ability to recognize 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.