What do you do when someone with an energy depleting, negative thinking, whiny attitude decides to hijack your team meeting?
Great question. I'm not surprised in being the first to admit to being a past and potentially future under-performing hijacker, and also a victim of hijacking. I object to the term whiny. It's you who may be whining. And maybe you need a power-saving mode if your energy is depleted before the end of a hijack. I think all the more positive comments are good ones. Here's my perspective.
If there is any defense for the hijacker, hijacking seems almost autonomic (triggered) like some compulsion or milder version of Tourette's, not automatic (engineered or planned). If I catch myself in times it is avoidable. If the manager plans for the general problem, it is minimal. While there seems to be more allowance for diversity in the workplace over the years, it seems to go along with an insistence on more conformity. Doesn't cultural diversity allow for non-conformity? Or is the coin of diversity conformity?
Twenty years ago I was sent to a seminar, Fred Pryor's "How to Deal with Difficult People". It was an enlightening introduction to my flaws. Send or familiarize all team members with the principles so that everyone is working from the same foundation. Make the rules clear. "Robert's Rules of Order" were written for a reason. Since we're not parliamentarians our rules don't need to be that complex.
Try rotating the meeting chair or make the meeting chair someone other than the main presenter, if possible. A dispassionate and objective person may hear things differently and can focus on managing the dynamics of the meeting rather than the success of the presentation. Please don't forget that a hijacking is not necessarily a lack of respect. It may be the consequence of your lack of preparation.
A negative response is the last thing you want to provide unless you are planning a firing (because hijackers seldom want to leave on their own). The hijacker wants a little validation if only on a philosophical basis. If not, the presenter may be seen as ill-informed, self-serving, not very well-read, or just stupid.
Everyone with a hot button is a potential hijacker. There is a paradox for me when managers extol the virtues of a management style expressed in a book like "A Passion for Excellence" and then attempt to suppress passion in the workplace (although probably less in sales and other disciplines and more in others). We need you to be consistent. And you can't be hypocritical when we're being hypercritical.
Hijackers seem to fall into two types, story tellers who try to make their points with anecdotal monologues and analysts who always want more facts. The story tellers seem to want more consistency (to eliminate a variance) and the analysts want more information (or may want more novelty to analyze). It also seems that the story tellers believe the solution is in other folks' hands and the analysts can't choose between alternatives. I sometimes think the story teller can be used as the early warning system for an organization who turns over the information for threat analysis. Thus killing two with one stone.
When was the last time you tried to improve the hijacker's performance. Do they need to be encouraged in efficiency or effectiveness.? Can they easily determine their productivity in comparison to other staff?
We hijackers are often intelligent people (or were once intelligent people) who are bored out of our skulls and have too much time to think. Insure we are using our talents for good and not for evil. Set clear objectives and provide an open mind (which need not necessarily be your own) outside the meeting. Provide guidance if we dither. If it is beyond your endurance, don't waste their knowledge before thinking about where in the organization they may have a better impact.
SalesBlogcast - Sales and Leadership Blog: Meeting HijackerCopyright 2007 Harlan R. Cohen MBA,CPIM
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