Do you hate meetings? Then you certainly know how annoying it is to sit in a meeting with people whose behavior is making the unpleasant situation of other participants even worse. Have you, however, ever wondered whether it is not you whose behavior is driving other participants crazy? Most notorious disturbers don't realize their behavior at all. Allison Green, the author of a popular management blog, drew attention to this problem in her recent article on the U.S. News website. She advises to pay attention to the following situations.
1. Late arrivals
Even worse than arriving late is to start explaining why you are late in the middle of a meeting. An occasional late arrival doesn't matter, it should, however, not become a habit.
2. Playing with your phone
When someone speaks, he doesn't want to watch you reading e-mails or playing games on your mobile phone. If you believe that your participation is unnecessary, say so in advance.
3. Monologue
There is no space for your long monologues at the meetings. If you want to express your opinion to something, speak factually and succinctly.
4. No participation in the discussion
Most meetings are designed for the participants to tell their views. The fact that you shouldn't have a monologue doesn't mean that you should remain silent the whole time.
5. Thousands of questions
Meetings are of course organized to answer questions. However, this doesn't mean that you should discuss all topics from all sides and prolong meetings because of addressing issues that can't be resolved immediately.
6. Food
A cup of coffee or a bottle of water is okay. It is, however, not okay to bring your snack with you and be the only one in the room to eat.
7. Lack of preparation
Others can easily notice that you have not read the materials you should read beforehand. And what is even worse, they will have to waste their time to explain to you what it is all about.
8. Conflictness
You do not agree with everything, but you must maintain decorum and professionalism.
9. Always in opposition
If you always stand in opposition, everyone will want you to keep quiet very soon. It is okay to warn against risks, but not to oppose everything beforehand.
10. Disorganization of your own meetings
When you organize a meeting yourself, does it begin and end on time? Do you have a prepared agenda and invite only people who are really involved? Are you talking about the scheduled topics and agreeing on solutions?
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