Meeting Fox

Loyal, passionate and creative the Meeting Fox relies on its sharp mind and engaging personality to influence and succeed. The Meeting Fox is orderly and ambitious and can make others feel belittled because of their fierce competitiveness.

 

The Fox is a great contributor in the meeting environment. Sometimes too great. We can find that if the Fox is not regulated they will tend to give their ideas on every topic that arises leaving other attendees to watch and listen. Although this may not be the intention of the Fox, it ends up being the outcome. The Fox has a personality which makes them very competitive, causing them to strive for greatness through their passion and creativity. When other attendees are exposed to this it may cause them to not contribute as much or just shut down completely because they know the Fox will keep contributing.

Issue With Meeting Fox And Other Attendees

We don’t want this scenario in a meeting for a couple of reasons.

 

1. It causes other attendees to not contribute as much as they should, often times attendees will shut down or become aloof to the meeting all together.

 

2. Although the Meeting Fox has good points and contributes often, “Two heads are better than one”, as the saying goes. It’s important to get different perspectives.

 

3. This can also lead to the Meeting Fox thinking that the other attendees don’t care as much.

Encouraging Creativity And Passion

The Fox means well and it’s important not to shut down the creativity, passion and loyalty the Fox has. Some ways we can utilize the contributions of the Fox but continually keep other attendees engaged are:

 

1. If the Fox is taking more time then the meeting can allow for, interrupt the Fox and have another attendee summarize what was said.

 

“Those are some great points, Fox. Would somebody like to summarize what Fox has presented?”

 

2. When you’re preparing for the meeting ask Fox to help contribute with key ideas, then when the meeting is executed, Fox will present these ideas and ask for other attendees opinions.

 

3. Set the ground rules in the Pre-Frame stating that everybody will be heard and is expected to contribute.

 

Stay Engaged With Attendees

Keeping the attendees active during the meeting is key with Fox present. You might notice that otherwise attentive attendees might start slipping into a Meeting Animal we have already covered, that is Mouse. Attendees do not intend to take this transformation by happens naturally when Fox is given free rein to respond to all questions unchecked. Be sure to have all attendees participate so all participants feel included.

 

Have you ever had a Meeting Fox attend your meetings? What was the experience? Maybe you’re a Meeting Animal yourself! Feedback on our Meeting Animals series is encouraged and always welcome.