{"id":5580,"date":"2017-04-20T00:01:59","date_gmt":"2017-04-20T04:01:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/?p=5580"},"modified":"2026-04-21T13:23:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T17:23:33","slug":"problems-in-meetings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/problems-in-meetings\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Manage Challenging Personality Types to Avoid Problems in Meetings"},"content":{"rendered":"

A problem person causes a meeting distraction. Their message is ineffective because some characteristic gets in the way of communicating clearly. Always empower your participants, but learn to control challenging personality types to avoid problems in meetings.<\/span><\/h2>\n

First of all, the deliverable or decision is theirs, not yours. Therefore, manage politics by removing ideas from the individual participant and turning them over to the entire group. Because it\u2019s not WHO is right, but rather WHAT<\/a> is right that we seek. All ideas belong to all participants\u2014never to an individual. While \u2018Ground Rules<\/a>\u2019 help mitigate some behavior, firmer action is required for select individuals. As a result, difficult participants known to cause problem meetings are discussed below.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPolitikos<\/em>\u201d — Nature of the Problem Person<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

The term \u2018Politikos<\/em>\u2019 means \u2018the science of people. You deal more ably with participants as you gain more experience. However, there is a certain degree of comfort in recognizing that there are some common patterns of behavior that are likely to occur. Keep one thing in mind, however; participants cause problems only for a certain time. Often a participant causing a problem becomes productive in a different situation. Never\u00a0label a\u00a0person\u00a0permanently\u00a0as a\u00a0problem person.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Firm But Flexible, How to Manage\u00a0Personality\u00a0Types in Problem Meetings<\/span><\/h3>\n

You identify participants displaying problems because they generally disrupt the session. Sometimes, however, they don\u2019t participate<\/a>. When you have a problem person in a meeting, their contribution remains unclear because some characteristic gets in the way of communication. To deal with the people on the ends of the curve (i.e., the outliers), assume that people have good intentions and focus your energy on discovering what is causing the difficulty.\u00a0 In other words, identify the problem\u2014do\u00a0not<\/u>\u00a0highlight the problem person<\/em>\u00a0(or, person with the problem).<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Difficult

Problems in Meetings and Difficult Participants<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

People Principles to Remember<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Following are guiding principles for dealing with people (all based on \u201cTreat others as you wish to be treated\u201d):<\/span><\/p>\n