Meeting Villains: How to Tell if Someone is a Hijacker.

Previously we introduced you to the Meeting Villains, this is the first installment in that series: The Meeting Hijacker.

The Hijacking

You didn't suspect that he would turn out to be a Hijacker.

It was your first meeting with him.  He looked pretty clean cut… dressed like any other businessman… with his Brooks Brother shirt, cornflower blue tie, snazzy cufflinks… nothing to make you suspicious.


But then all of the sudden… BAAM!!  Your Meeting has been HIJACKED.

You are stunned for the first few minutes, your head is reeling and you can't figure out how he did it.  The other attendees in the room scornfully look at you for inviting the one person who could derail one of the most important meetings of the month.



The Culprit

You are not totally to blame…  A meeting hijacker can easily blend in as anyone in your organization (not just a Gordon Gecko type with a hidden agenda the size of Santa Claus' naughty list).  

To help you quickly identify a hijacker, look for these attributes: 

• Shows up late to a meeting without knowing what the meeting is about... after you included the agenda in the invite and your follow-up email. 
• Brings up side topics that are unrelated to the goals of the meeting. 
• Says things such as:  "We need to discuss __XYZ__ which is really more important than everything you have on the agenda"
• Interjects the discussion with urgent hot-button low priority issues by saying "we need to talk about this eventually"…  and then will continue to talk about those issues. 

How to Protect Yourself.

Keep an eye out for the behaviors above.   If you see something, SAY SOMETHING.

The only way to halt a hijacking is to stop it as soon as it starts...  if you let it proceed, it will snowball into an avalanche of useless side discussion.

The following are the three tricks to stop a hijacking in progress:

#1 Have a Planned Agenda sent out prior to the meeting -  REMEMBER: It will be nearly impossible to prevent a hijacking if you don't send out an agenda.   In your invite, be sure to include the text "Please review the agenda below and let me know if you have any updates or additions"


#2 Put Off-Topic Items Into a "Parking Lot" - If someone tries to hijack the meeting, point out that what they are bringing up "was not on the agenda you sent out last week" and ask if we can add it to the parking lot to address at the end of the meeting (time permitting) or a follow-up meeting.


#3 Keep Track of Time in the Meeting - If people in the meeting are aware that their precious 22 minutes of meeting time is quickly melting into oblivion, they are much less likely to protest adding an off-topic item to the parking lot.

You are now armed with the weapons to protect your meetings from Hijackers.    If you see something, SAY SOMETHING.  Remember: the safety of meetings is up to you.

 Photo from Flickr user istolethetv

Tell me again, Why Was I Invited To This Meeting?

Do you work with someone who is double-booked for multiple meetings every day? 

Can you hear them right now... complaining about how they never get anything done because they are in meetings all day?  What keeps them from being able to manage their schedule? 

If you were in their shoes, what would you do to improve this?

What would you say if I told you there was a Silver Bullet to being over-subscribed to meetings, and this silver bullet would require No Additional Effort on your part?

Wait for it…

Wait for it…


You still waiting on that Silver Bullet??? 

Too Bad... Repeat after me:
"THERE IS NO SILVER BULLET TO FIX ALL OF YOUR MEETING PROBLEMS"

You can, however, learn to build a better understanding of:
1. The sources of inviting people to meeting. 
2. The reasons why you should attend a meeting.

Being able to understand these two items will help you build the insights to improve the culture of you and those around you to help you better organize, attend, and contribute to meetings.

The following are the reasons why you get invited to meetings.  As you think about meetings, use these to determine if you should attend and what you should be contributing to the meeting.


The Seven Reasons You Were Invited to A Meeting:

#1 You are an Approver/Decision Maker - If you are a key Approver or Decision maker, you will find yourself in a lot more meetings.  This is especially true if you are unable to delegate any of your decision making responsibilities to your team members.  
If you are an approver or decision maker, the meeting is dependent on you attendance,  be sure to let the organizer know in advance if you need him to reschedule the meeting.
   

Dissecting The Meeting Frog

When you were in high school, if you took any sort of advanced biology courses, one of the projects you had was to dissect a frog. 


I'm sure you remember it well... Your teacher gave you a live frog, you had to kill it by sticking a needle in the base of its neck.  Then there was a set of instructions you had to follow to cut open the frog and find its various skeletal structures and internal organs.  


If you were like me, the process was not pleasant (I had gutted enough fish to think of cutting animals as a chore).  If you were like my lab partner, you were totally into it… he is also a doctor now.





Regret:

Looking back, one of the things I regret that never did in that class was to ask Why? 

Why are we cutting this animal apart? 
Why do we need to do this when we have videos and text books?  

Why should I have to do this, If I don’t want to be a doctor when I grow up?

At a lot of companies, meetings are like dissecting that frog...  
No one around you ever stops to understand Why Are We Meeting?

To get better at Dissecting the Meeting Frog you should think about the reasons why you are meeting.