Written by Jim Babb

If you’ve ever been in a meeting, chances are you’ve encountered one (or more) of the following dudes. Whether they mean to or not, they prevent work from getting done and irritate other people while doing so. They tend to suck up the room’s energy and demand special treatment, either overtly or passively. This can drag everyone else down, making the meeting less effective, less creative and less likely to result in positive outcomes.

A good solution is to avoid inviting these dudes to your meetings, or better yet, to ban them from your office. Alas, those options may not be realistic, so here’s a handy guide that includes tried-and-true dude mitigation techniques.

And yes, they are dudes.

Mister Details

This dude misses the forest for the trees. He’s really into trees. And bark. Wow, does he love bark. Did you know that bark is made up of a layer of tissues, the innermost of which is called phloem?

Look, details are important. Complexity is important. There’s always nuance to consider. But, left unchecked, Mr. Details will sidetrack important conversations with tangents, wild-goose chases, edge cases and lectures on bark structure.

How to handle this dude:

• Build a parking lot: Create a neutral place to capture tangents. Capturing doesn’t mean passing judgment — it’s just a “save for later” function. Be sure to budget time at the end of any long session to discuss the tangents. This way no one feels like their ideas, observations or insights are being dismissed outright. And you never know, that data point about bark might actually come in handy later.
• Structure activities: Make the level of detail for the discussion explicitly clear at the outset of the meeting. You can do this by having a template, a time limit and/or a specific area of focus that’s laid out when people arrive.

Professor This-is-Bullshit

This dude couldn’t give a fuck about this meeting. He’s already decided that the mission will fail (and he’s happy to tell everyone about the failure he sees coming). He thinks the whole conversation is a waste of his time. He’s pretty sure there’s something more important he could be doing. However, for some reason this dude still shows up with the intention of being a wet blanket.

How to handle this dude:

• Use empathy to investigate the problem: Before any major meetings, speak to the dude in private. Ask why he’s got such a negative perspective: Is it because of a misunderstanding, a personal conflict, a lack of engagement or something else? Find ways to give the dude ownership in the project, so he’s accountable for specific tasks or outcomes and can’t just sit on the sidelines rolling his eyes.
• That said, acknowledge the limits of your responsibility: You are not this dude’s babysitter. If you are his direct supervisor, you may need to have a frank discussion about his attitude, how it’s affecting his job, and what that means for his future employment. If he reports to someone else, it’s worth mentioning your frustration to that person, and asking for some help.

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