Has Your Meeting Just Been Hijacked?
Simple Tips to Get Back In Control – and Get Your Meeting Back on Track.
You step into a meeting with a group of colleagues to share information about a project that you – and many of them – are implicated in. You need to update them, and you need them to understand the next steps in order for you to move forward. As you start sharing the information and getting into all the details, one of your more outspoken colleagues raises their hand says: “That’s all interesting, but it now reminds me about an issue regarding a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT project, which I think we also need to discuss, like….right now!” to which many in the audience nod, agree, and then turn their attention to your interruptor.
And lo and behold…. your update meeting is hijacked, you’ve lost everyone’s attention, and you’re left wondering, “what the heck just happened?!?”
How would you react to this scenario?
Would you say:
A – “OK, let’s talk about your project instead.”
B – “Let me tell you about my project first because I need your input, then we can move onto your project.”
C – “Let me tell you about my project first because I need your input in the short time that we have, and then let’s set up another meeting to discuss your project.”
D – “I don’t want to hear about your project, please sit down, be quiet, and listen to me.”
(First and foremost, let’s hope that you didn’t choose D. And while we’re at it, I hope that you didn’t choose A either).
B and C are variations on the right answer for this question, and here’s why:
Stick to your objective. Your objective is to share the information that you have put together in your presentation. You must keep control of your meeting (for both your sake and the audience’s) – and meet that primary objective. If you find that someone is challenging you too much on this, or trying to take you off-topic, steer them back to your presentation by sharing WHY it’s important for them to know this information.
Sometimes explaining WHY they need to know this information – because their knowledge of this information is critical to projects’ success, because they have unique skills that can help move it forward, because they can help it move past challenges, because their insights and actions are critical to the success of the project – will provide enough context (and maybe even an ego boost) to help them re-focus on the value of what YOU are presenting!
Are you empowering your audience…to interrupt you?
Besides all that, if you falter and allow your meeting to be hijacked — because you’re not comfortable being assertive enough to speak up, because you feel like you lost the moment to get back on track, or because it’s just generally an awkward situation — the bigger risk is that in future meetings, your colleagues may feel that it’s acceptable to interrupt you and lead you away from your objective. That’s a free-for-all disaster scenario that you want to avoid at all costs. For all the work that you do, and all the expertise you bring to your projects, it’s a fair bet to say that you don’t want to be ignored, disregarded, or talked over. Get control of your meeting, keep control, and re-take control – politely, professionally and respectfully – if someone else tries to steer it in another direction.
Not only is this important for you to do — but it’s important for your audience to SEE you do. You’ll gain the respect and appreciation of your colleagues for keeping the meeting focused and on track, you’ll ensure that everyone understands the proper rules of behaviour for all of your future meetings, you’ll lead the meeting in exactly the way YOU want it to be led.
