Meeting Baboon

Critical of others’ ideas while presenting little to no substance themselves.

 

The Baboon is a very critical meeting animal. They often have a good understand of what is expected out of any given meeting and often have a good work ethic. The issue with the baboon is that they tend to either play devil’s advocate, or as simply overly critical of other attendees’ ideas or work. This critical behavior may have substance and is viable to improve the quality of the meeting content, but the language the Baboon uses tends to be harsh and direct.

Being Constructive Is Key!

We should remember that criticism is a powerful tool when used correctly. Criticism helps drive productivity but must be presented in a constructive way.

If you find the Baboon of your meetings are being overly critical you may try summarizing what they say if the criticism holds truth, but maybe the language is harsh and off putting.

Using redirecting methods such as the soft-redirect or hard-redirect may be used for this following example.

Baboon: “You know, we wouldn’t have to rehash this meeting if Mouse from sales just closed the deal.”

Meeting Leader: “The fact of the matter is, we are having a meeting to hash out specific issues. Regardless of the sales team not closing on the deal, we are still here to make progress on the subject.”

Being A Team Player

Using terms like “we” and referring to the sales team rather than the individual (the Mouse) shows that all attendees and employees are a part of a team. It is important to note that placing blame on one individual will not help the meeting progress. You must always keep calm especially when dealing with conflict from these meeting animals. As you correct the behavior of the Baboon singling out the Mouse, you yourself do not want to single out the Baboon. This will deescalate the situation and allow for the meeting to stay on track.

 

Did these tactics help tame your Meeting Baboon? Do you have stories of a Meeting Baboon in your meetings? If so, how was it handled at the time and was it effective?