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I just learned a new word today. "Captious." Those of you interested in conducting effective meetings might be interested. See the Harvard Business Review blog post here: http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/11/that-guy-with-a-thousand-inconsequential-ob...

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Related to this is picking out the weakest part of an idea, project, or strategy and discussing it to death thereby casting aspersions on the over all concept which is usually sound. In some cases, this has derailed the project or just ruined the meeting.

In some cases, this is done inadvertently, so it may be considered captious. In other cases, I've seen it done deliberately by those opposed.

What do you think? How would you deal with this in a meeting?

BariTony's picture

Empathic redirection is actually a counseling technique, but I've found it can work effectively in these situations. Identify with the captious person's concerns, thank them for pointing out the potential red flags, but explain to them that we have a limited amount of time and need to stick to the agenda, or we really need to have input from the rest of the team and hear their ideas. Finally, offer to discuss their concerns with them off-line. I've found that a lot of these individuals want to feel important and having the public "invitation" to discuss a critical project one-on-one with the boss fulfills that need for their ego.

Here's another strategy: If it's an idea or project that came from a client or senior management, then I make clear to them that while their concerns might be valid, the expectation from the client and our management is that we are expected to execute the project successfully, so the conversation should be framed around how to identify solutions to these problems.

GlennR's picture

Great examples. Thanks!