Corporate Wisdom — Part 1
Corporate meetings can be fun.
They could also be universities that pay you to teach you. They impart a whole lot of other skills on the job encompassing domain knowledge, language , grammar, soft skills, convincing skills, listening skills and more.
In part 1 of this “Corporate Wisdom” series, I would like to focus on this one particular type of crude behavior that could really upset you in a meeting.
The Uncomfortable Scenario
You : “I have a solution to address this problem. Would you like to hear that?”, The other blunt voice in ultra low frequency : “Yeah . Even I have solutions too …”.
You (trying to ignore that , moving on) : “My team has worked on a lot of optimizations off late and I believe they can help”.
The voice : “My team has the expertise too …”
Now you are perturbed.
Whats Wrong Here ?
A casual observer might think “that doesn’t sound wrong at all!”.
What is missing here is that there is a silent extrapolation of that line that goes “so don’t think for a moment you are the only ones that are capable of providing solutions.”
“so don’t think your team is the only one that does the hard work”
This clearly indicates lack of #ListeningSkills — not to mention a very bad #ToneOfVoice.
Behavioral Analysis
Some people do this knowingly and some don’t realize this at all. Interestingly, behavioral research indicates that such responses typically come from people who feel totally ignored/left out of the herd.
As always, there are two sides to the coin here.
- The Problem Maker’s Perspective
- The Victim’s Perspective
The Problem Maker’s Perspective
The best advice to problem makers is don’t feel let down. If people ignore you, that is not necessarily your problem. You have your individuality and you live up to it. Try to listen to others more and be patient. Then perhaps people would reciprocate that to you.
“What” you say is certainly important. But “when” you say that is even more so important ! Imagine you say “I have some solutions too” after the other person finishes talking :-) It changes the texture of the whole discussion and makes it very constructive.
The bottom line ? Well, the more you show your frustration in this manner, the less chances that your ecosystem would improve. So try to maintain calm and wait for the right opportunity to talk.
The Victim’s Perspective
Okay. So how do we handle this when you are at the receiving end of the response? Let me tell you it does not get any easier.
The dilemma for you would be that responding to that comment would hijack the meeting into a totally destructive path. However, letting it go means that you give up so easily and your ego would be bruised.
My advice? let the person making that comment feel important. Yield. Make him realize that you are listening to him. The moment you do this, such people normally reciprocate this and give you back the platform for you to explain your solution.
Summary
I have tried to analyze this uncomfortable situation rationally with due respect to both the parties. Hopefully this advice comes in handy in a real life situation. Until next time ! Adios !
