Do you ever feel like you have to protect your meeting from being sabotaged?
It feels like people are intentionally trying to wreck your meetings. And, they’re so good at it, it seems like they’re following a “Sabotage Field Manual”.
The truth is they actually might be.
I’ll explain why I say that later in this post.
But, first let’s take a look at 5 common sabotage tactics and how to protect your meeting and your team from these destructive techniques.
I’ve seen all of these tactics being used in the thousands of meetings I’ve led or attended, but this first one may be the most common.
And the most frustrating.
1. Dominate the conversation
If you want to derail a meeting do these 4 things.
- Make “speeches.”
- Talk as frequently and as long as possible during a meeting.
- Illustrate your “points” using long anecdotes and accounts of personal experiences.
- Never hesitate to make a few appropriate “rah rah” comments referencing the company mission and vision.
How to protect your meeting from this sabotage tactic
Interrupt. Politely of course.
You’re the meeting leader, take control.
Be aware of the danger of a rambler in a meeting and jump in early before they get momentum.
A long-winded person in a meeting can suck up all the time you have to do important work.
Be assertive and protect your meeting from this common sabotage technique.
These resources will ensure you’re ready and equipped.
✅ How To Stop Someone From Rambling So They Can Be Heard (Blog post)
✅ How To Protect Your Meeting From A Rambler (Podcast)
2. Bring up and question decisions that were already made
If you want to waste time during a meeting, don’t take time to think about whether a decision was already made.
Just bring it up as a question.
Or, if you do remember the decision and didn’t agree with it, bring it up again.
Most meeting leaders won’t have any documentation to prove you wrong.
And, you’ll be able to start the same arguments all over again.
Before you know it, the meeting you’re in will be full blown chaos.
How to protect your meeting from this sabotage tactic
As the meeting leader you DO NOT want this to happen to you.
To protect your meeting and yourself, take these precautions.
- Keep a list of decisions made in previous meetings. (Keeping meeting minutes in a shared location works great.)
- Document the decisions made during your meetings.
- Drive for decisions as you lead your meetings.
- Restate each decision and confirm agreement.
- Put decisions in writing.
If at all possible, designate an official note taker for you meetings.
This is a critical, important role with tremendous power.
Choose the note taker for your meetings carefully and make sure they are equipped to do this important job using these resources.
✅ How To Unlock The Power To Lead In A Role You Probably Don’t Like (Blog post)
✅ How To Lead A Meeting In A Way Most People Won’t Try (Podcast)
3. Point out irrelevant details
Here’s one of my least favorite examples of this tactic.
It’s the beginning of the new year and you’re sharing a report during a meeting.
The date says “January 2022”.
But, it’s January 2023.
Everyone knows it’s a typo.
But someone just can’t hold their tongue.
They’ve got to stop the meeting and point out the inaccurate year on the slide.
Seriously?
A few seconds are wasted. Or more likely, a few minutes are blown with the follow up comments from the crowd.
Or, even worse, you get triggered and make a snappy emotional response.
Your highly efficient meeting just lost its momentum and its productivity.
How to protect your meeting from this sabotage tactic
Take the time to proofread your material.
Catch all the typos you can.
You won’t find everything so be ready to quickly accept the low-value comment and keep the meeting moving.
Don’t get caught up in spending time on things that don’t matter.
4. Haggle over precise wording
If you don’t want to do meaningful work during a meeting and accomplish the purpose of the meeting, use this trick.
Everyone knows words matter.
We need to be careful with the words we choose and use the exact right terms.
Sounds like the approach a perfectionist would take, doesn’t it?
And, perfectionists (myself include) can waste an incredible amount of time trying to decide on something that doesn’t really matter.
Like the precise wording being used during a meeting.
So, fuel the perfectionist tendencies of the people in meetings with you.
Start the debate on whether there’s a better way to word something.
How it’s described is good. Good enough in fact.
But, couldn’t it be better? A bit more accurate. More precise?
You’ll have everyone jumping in and adding their two cents.
Those cents will quickly turn into hundreds of dollars in time wasted during the meeting.
How to protect your meeting from this sabotage tactic
Don’t take the bait.
Keep the focus on what is truly important.
If the details being challenged are relevant and important, keep the discussion going.
If they’re not, agree to whatever wording is good enough to stop the debate.
Remember the purpose of your meeting and do what you need to do to accomplish that purpose.
5. Advocate caution
Countless meetings that could have been productive and effective have been wrecked by unfounded fretting and time-wasting worrying.
Often unintentionally (I’m assuming positive intent) someone in a meeting will set off a nearly uncontrollable dialogue on the concerns about a project.
Without data, nervous team members will point out all that MIGHT go wrong and uninformed leaders will feed the frenzy as your meeting time slips away.
Because no one wants to make a mistake and look bad, the advice to “be cautious” is welcomed.
No decisions are made or actions taken except to recommend meeting again to discuss the risks and issues further.
Your meeting time is wasted by those who lack courage and advocate an unnecessary level of caution.
How to protect your meeting from this sabotage tactic
Being prudent is wise, but leaders must make decisions and take action when there are risks.
To protect your meetings from those who introduce fear and worry not based on reality, you must communicate risks and issues clearly and concisely.
Every project involves uncertainty and risk. Things go wrong and you will have issues to deal with.
When that happens follow these steps.
1. Disclose significant risks early to your leadership team. Bad news doesn’t age well.
2. Develop and present correction plans (with actions and owners) for each significant issue.
2. Monitor risks and severity levels. Have mitigation plans to prevent them from becoming issues.
3. Clearly communicate the support your team needs to address all issues and risks to your project.
By following these steps during your meetings, you’re demonstrating you are in control of the situation.
The Project Review Scorecard Toolkit includes proven scorecards that make is easy to protect your meetings from those who like to fret and worry.
You’ll keep your meetings focused and get the support your team needs to address the actual issues you’re dealing with.
Get the Project Review Scorecard Toolkit now (CLICK HERE).
Protect your meeting from these 5 sabotage tactics
When you’re leading meetings watch out for these 5 sabotage tactics and be ready to take countermeasures against them.
1. Dominate the conversation
2. Bring up and question decisions that were already made
3. Point out irrelevant details
4. Haggle over precise wording
5. Advocate caution
I told you earlier I would explain why I said someone might be following some sort of sabotage manual to wreck your meetings.
Here’s why I said that.
A Simple Sabotage Field Manual for Meetings and Much More
These 5 sabotage tips, which likely sound too familiar based on your experience leading meetings, were taken from a document entitled “Simple Sabotage Field Manual”.
According to the Homeland Security Digital Library website where you can download the full document:
“This historical document was originally published by the United States Office of Strategic Services (OSS; now the Central Intelligence Agency) in 1944, for use by OSS agents in motivating or recruiting potential foreign saboteurs.”
The same sabotage tactics that were effective decades ago during times of war are equally destructive in today’s business world.
So, be sure to watch for them and take action to protect your meetings from being sabotaged!
Here are 3 ways I can help you when you’re ready:
- Get more free resources you can use today (Click here to Start)
- Improve on your own with digital courses (Click here to Improve)
- Accelerate your progress with coaching (Click here to Accelerate)
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