Here’s a question I was sent via LinkedIn:
“My boss joins my weekly meeting, and then takes it over. Sometimes he criticises people, sometimes he just talks too much. What can I do?”
Answer:
You have to be very careful when it’s your boss!
Ideally he wouldn’t be there at all. But if he is then you need tactful ways to contain him.
- Maybe set up a strict agenda and suggest you try to keep to the times on there?
Or, maybe, if he means well and is approachable, you could talk to him outside the meeting (he can’t be made to lose face during the meeting!), perhaps using the four step assertiveness process of “I understand / I feel / I want / Is that OK?” to explain that you feel that his inputs are great but sometimes affect the flow of the meeting, so is it OK if…
- he lets you run it with only minimal interventions,
- or maybe he doesn’t need to come every time – or maybe he just does a session at the beginning and then leaves, or comes in for just the last part –
- or maybe you can agree with him to have a secret sign to tell him that he needs to finish and let you push the meeting on…?
- Or maybe you can start another meeting with a different title at a different time in a different place, and invite everyone except for him? And then slowly run down the old meeting, making it more and more occasional.
- You could disguise this still further by dividing the meeting into two, and inviting half the people (but not the boss) to one meeting, and the other half of the people (and not the boss) to the other half….
Good luck!
CC
More info on meetings here
More info on difficult bosses here
PS – Are you considering getting into training? Would being a freelance trainer suit you? Get more information here: www.becometrainers.com
Leave a Reply