Personality Types in MeetingsThere are many reasons for people behaving in meetings in the way that they do - they might even behave differently in different meetings. It is useful, however, if you are chairing a meeting, to have some mental map of ‘personality types’ so that when you recognise them you will know how to handle them. The following types are identified in the Video Arts Production "More Bloody Meetings".
The Aggressive Type"Look, the answer is ..." "As I’ve always said ..." The aggressive type has a tendency to be noisy and coercive, and is always full of the ‘right’ answers. As well as being too opinionated, the over-aggressive types are usually too quick to jump to conclusions and offer solutions, which are invariably wrong anyway. They fit everything to suit their own perceptions, constantly ‘propose’, and are too impatient.
The Silent Type "Mmm". "Quite probably." The silent type is quiet and reserved. But you cannot be sure whether silence is caused by nervousness, diffidence, or even outright hostility. So be careful. Silence can cause disquiet amongst others. "Does she think we are all too stupid to bother with?". or "Will she run off is someone says ‘boo’?".
The Abusive Type "It’ll never work." "Tried that once. Useless" The abusive type tends to be rude and abusive, and full of reasons why things won’t work or can’t be done. This type is the real demolition expert, a blocker, who will dispirit and demoralise the meeting if you are not careful. They tend to have closed minds and seldom listen.
The Rambling Type "That reminds me of ..." "Guess what I heard..." The rambling type runs about like a rabbit all over the place, and whenever he or she speaks takes the meeting off at a tangent. They tell stories and jokes which go on too long, miss the point, turn up late and are full of gossip.
The Sniping Type "Picture? More like a disaster movie." The sniping type can either say a little or a lot, but their speciality is the one-liner, the witty retort, which can be very funny but not very helpful - especially if it’s directed at an individual rather than at an issue. This type seem to be experts on everything, but their facts can be suspect on closer probing.
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