Meeting Personalities You Want to Avoid Being

We’ve all been there. You know. That Meeting. The one in which the Latecomer breezes into the room five minutes after the meeting starts. Or the Naysayer finds any reason to shoot down a good idea. Or the Rambler goes on and on, never quite getting to the point. Sound familiar? Do you see these meeting personalities in your meetings? Even worse, are you stepping into these roles without realizing it?

Below we share a few resources to highlight unhelpful meeting personalities that keep work from moving forward, plus some actions to address them.

Every Meeting Ever - The meeting that goes nowhere

Comedy duo Tripp and Tyler create another video in which they satirize office culture by highlighting unproductive meeting personalities like the Dominator, the Social Networker, the Underachieving Scribe, and more. Although this is sponsored content from another company, we enjoy it so much we have to share it with you.

13 Types of Meeting Personalities

Career expert, Hannah Morgan, discusses 13 types of meeting personalities that derail meetings plus suggestions to improve meeting participation.

The Phone Checker just can't wait to check her retweets, even if it's during a meeting.

Meeting Personalities Online Quiz

Funny woman and former Googler, Sarah Cooper, has written the first ever funny meeting personalities online quiz (that we know of). Enjoy the ridiculousness of this quiz while also finding some truth in the humor.

Unproductive meeting personalities exist. We’ve laughed. Now what?

Do these resources shed some light on the less than desirable meeting personalities you and your co-workers might be exhibiting? To combat these disruptive personalities, try these two approaches.

1. Recognize your own behavior

If the resources above hit home for you, assess your own meeting behavior. Ask colleagues if there are things you do during meetings that aren’t helpful, or for suggestions on how you could improve your meeting participation. Then set yourself a goal in an upcoming meeting to intentionally act counter to the behavior you naturally follow.

For example, if you want to be less talkative and make space for other voices, scribble a note at the top of your notebook to remind yourself to let others talk first or keep your comments brief. After the meeting, check in with yourself to see how it felt and ask a colleague if they think your participation improved.

2. Redirect difficult behavior of others

Modifying your own behavior is a good start, but what about the other meeting participants who don’t realize how they’re acting? Start by sharing this article and helping people become aware of their unintentional disruption. If you’re comfortable, offer specific guidance on how they can enhance their meeting participation. Lastly, learn more about managing difficult behaviors to redirect some unhelpful meeting personalities.

What kinds of meeting personalities have you encountered? How have you managed them?

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