10 Tactics to Prevent Disruptions

You’re sitting captive in another meeting. The leader asks for ideas on improving a process that the group is responsible for as one of their productivity measures. Joe Negatroid is sitting across the table waiting to pounce on anyone’s idea. After all, he has a reputation for that. Fearing his outbursts, no one offers suggestions.

So often I hear people complain about a single individual’s behavior and its effect on the group as a whole. Rather than passively acquiesce to Joe’s disruptive behavior, there are some tactics that can help reverse this problematic behavior. When Joe’s disruptions affect the performance of the group as a whole, courageous action is needed. Here are some possible tactics.

Suggest the group develop “process rules” that everyone agree to follow and post them.
Dis-invite Joe. For this one, you need to be the established leader.
Get Joe to agree before the meeting, that he not argue, just for this one meeting, from his fixed familiar position.
Give Joe the role of posting others’ viewpoints during the meeting. This will force a new perception for him and keep him busy.
Suggest to the meeting leader to take intervals to assess the group’s progress.
Alternatively, suggest to the leader a meeting evaluation that includes evaluation of the group process and publish the results regularly.
Take all the dominator’s items off the agenda. Unfortunately, this one is only for the leader, but you could discuss the problem with the leader.
Discuss the situation with Joe in such a way that he becomes concerned about what might be the consequence of his behavior. You might tell him, for example, “It has come to my attention that a number of people are angry with you, and they are thinking about bringing it up in the meeting.”
Ask other people attending the meeting to support you in dealing with the disruptive person’s behavior. For example, you can ask them to refuse to argue with Joe. Or, may ask them to give their feeling reactions to Joe as a result of the disruptive behavior. Alternatively, you might ask them to directly confront the dysfunctional behavior. This tactic requires more courage than I have seen most folks willing to display in the workplace. To be effective, the participants must focus what they say on Joe’s behavior, not his personality. Calling Joe a “dominator” will only inflame his response. Telling Joe that his comments, “That won’t work” as soon as someone offers an idea is disruptive to the flow of ideas is a better way to describe the situation.
Ask the meeting leader to make Joe’s behavior a published agenda item.

These are not soft and squishy tactics. They do require courage. They are effective because they deal directly with the behavior, and are thus fair to Joe. If you find yourself saying, “I can’t do that,” I encourage you to think about the loss of creative thinking and group morale that the disruptive behavior causes both for the group, as well as for your own productivity and well-being. If you are a manager or group leader, it is your responsibility to do this.

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