One Meeting Minute Thought for Your Week
Do you ever feel like you have to protect your meetings from being sabotaged?
It feels like people are intentionally trying to wreck them. 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 in just a minute.
But, first, do the people in your meetings do any of these 5 things and (intentionally or unintentionally) wreck your meetings?
- Dominate the conversation
- Bring up and question decisions that were already made
- Point out irrelevant details
- Haggle over precise wording
- Advocate caution
If your answer is yes (and I bet it is), apply these countermeasures to protect your meetings from sabotage!
Sabotage Tactic: Dominate the conversation
Those who want to derail a meeting by dominating the conversation will do things like this.
- Make “speeches.”
- Talk as frequently and as long as possible during a meeting.
- Illustrate their “points” using long anecdotes and accounts of personal experiences.
Countermeasure 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.
Sabotage Tactic: Bring up and question decisions that were already made
This will wreck a meeting every time.
I’m sure you’ve seen it happen. Probably more times than you care to remember.
The team made a decision in a previous meeting and someone wants to talk about it again.
They may (or may not) mean well, but it’s not productive.
Here’s what to do to prevent this sabotage tactic.
Countermeasure to protect your meeting from this sabotage tactic
Document all decisions made during your meetings in the distributed notes.
Have the notes from previous meetings readily available so you can access them quickly if someone wants to revisit or question a decision that’s already been made. Keeping meeting minutes in a shared location works great.
Politely show them the following in the official meeting notes:
- The decision made
- Who made the decision
- When the decision was made
- The document that communicated the decision to those impacted
Of course this technique assumes you have someone serving in the important role of note taker in your meetings!
Sabotage Tactic: Point out irrelevant details
Here’s one of my least favorite examples of this tactic.
It’s the beginning of the new year. 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.
Countermeasure 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.
Sabotage Tactic: Haggle over precise wording
Everyone knows words matter.
Of course we need to be careful with the words we choose and use the exact right terms.
But when someone starts a non-productive debate on whether there’s a better way to word something, they’re sabotaging your meeting.
Countermeasure 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.
Sabotage Tactic: 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.
Countermeasure to protect your meeting from this sabotage tactic
To prevent this from happening in your meetings, remove the opportunity for someone to exaggerate the potential risks and issues.
Follow these 4 steps consistently in your meetings.
- Disclose significant risks early to your leadership team. Bad news doesn’t age well.
- Develop and present correction plans (with actions and owners) for each significant issue.
- Monitor risks and severity levels. Have mitigation plans to prevent them from becoming issues.
- 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 and stopping unfounded worry.
The source of these meeting sabotage tactics
You may be surprised to learn these meeting sabotage tactics are from a document titled “Simple Sabotage Field Manual”.
According to the Homeland Security Digital Library website:
“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.
When you’re leading meetings watch out for these 5 sabotage tactics and be ready to take countermeasures against them.
More Resources to Help You Build Your Career and Your Business
I dive deeper into this topic and provide more resources to protect your meetings from sabotage in this blog post.
✅ How To Protect Your Meeting From Being Sabotaged (Blog post)
If you’re interested, you can download the full Simple Sabotage Field Manual on the Homeland Security Digital Library website.
And Now a Word from Our Sponsors
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.
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That’s All for this Issue
Intentionally or not, people in your meetings are going to find ways to sabotage them.
You can prevent the negative impact now that you know the common tactics and the countermeasures to use against them.
Let’s lead with kindness and confidence!
Greg
Here are 3 ways I can help you when you’re ready:
- Get more free resources you can use today (Click here to Start)
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