1. Not a quiet person in the office. But when it comes to meeting, he prefers to remain quiet even though he does have some opinions/ideas/suggestions. He is worried others will look down or laugh at him. So he prefers to keep those points to himself. And sometimes, after the meeting, he’ll start to complain other people’s ideas and that the management should listen to him instead.
2. Never a quiet person and loves to speak out during meetings, sometimes, a bit too much. His purpose is to enforce his ideas and authority, and make sure he is important in the meeting and everyone is listening to him. This kind of people tend to have poor listening skill. He can ask or talk about something which has just been discussed few minutes ago, or he often interrupts people while they’re talking.

Of course, the second one is the type which we always notice and always hate. Well, he makes us notice him anyway. But in my opinion, both are equally guilty and equally bad. Both should change and a balance should be reached.

The quiet one should learn to be more outspoken. These individuals always complain that other people are more successful not because they are smart, but because they can talk. Bad news for these guys, that’s the reality. It’s not like you need to talk like a consultant or salesman, but good communication skill is an essential tool in the corporate world. Would you rather work with someone who can explain himself well, or someone who knows a lot of stuff but always tell you the wrong thing? The answer is pretty obvious. Also, it doesn’t help to keep everything to yourself. People won’t know what you want/feel until you tell them.

On the other hand, the 2nd person should also change. Try to listen more and put his ego down. No point forcing his ego onto other people as this will only frustrate and irritate people more. Also, there’s no need to show off how outspoken he is. Giving other people the opportunity to speak or finish their sentence is necessary as a kind of respect. If you don’t respect others, no matter how good a speaker you are, they will not respect you (some will hate you). So listen more and observe the situation before you speak (so far, those that I know who belong to this group…..nobody really likes them, not even the bosses).

So what do you think? Have you met such people before? Do you find them annoying and at times frustrating? Or perhaps you are one of them? (Well, the first one is still okay since nobody really hates them… but the second one is quite a pain) If yes, which type do you think you are and how do you think you can change for the better? Remember that a balance is required here and too much of any side can bring pretty bad consequences.

Why is that so? Here are some of the factors which I can think of for now.

• Agendas and things to be discussed in the meeting or discussion are not set. People do not know what to talk about and most probably end up talking nonsense.
• Most people are just there in the meeting room for the sake of being there, without actually wanting to solve the problem. Their bodies will be there, not their souls.
• The person chairing the meeting and discussion is not experienced enough or he himself tends to talk something unrelated to the objectives. Or worse, the person does not know what he wants from the meeting and just want to get it over as quickly as possible.

In my opinion, if you don’t have the willingness to achieve the objectives of the meeting (which, most of the time, is to solve problems), then don’t conduct a meeting or discussion in the first place because any meeting which fails to achieve the objectives is regarded as meaningless and a waste of time.

I think this kind of meeting is pretty popular

And if you conduct a meeting for the sake of coming out with ANY solution….then please…..don’t start the meeting at all. No solution is better than a very bad solution which might make things worse.

I started this topic after my sister told me that a customer service officer of a company called her up and changed her (the officer’s) statement from “Our company products’ warranty period is only 3 days”  to “After confirming with our senior managers, we have to inform you that our company does not provide warranty coverage to the toys AT ALL“. See the difference?

Call this irresponsible, or whatever. To me, it’s lousy management and leadership. If you can only come out with such lousy solution (it’s actually a worse answer than the first one), then at least, don’t tell me “After confirming with our senior managers”. You are giving me the impression that your whole company, including the senior managers, consists of a bunch of idiots.