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"malicious compliance path in meetings: take them over and wrest the agenda to conform to your desire." We used to have an IT director who had mastered the art

"malicious compliance path in meetings: take them over and wrest the agenda to conform to your desire." We used to have an IT director who had mastered the art of stealing meetings. He contributed nothing during the meeting but in the end with an authoritative voice he summarized what was said and who would do what. And the meeting was his without ever contributing anything.

ASalazarMX 2y ago
This could be a good thing, depending on context. He was paying attention, but let people do their job. An IT director is a facilitator, they don't need to make ALL the decisions, just high-level ones, there are experts on the team for that. The director NEEDS to make sure the company's goals are considered first, that the overall strategy is on track, and that everyone has the resources to do their jobs.
joshstrange 2y ago
Not sure if I’d call that “stealing meetings”, I find it incredibly useful to rephrase what’s been decided on and who will do the next steps because that can easily get lost in the meeting, An IT director who listens to the people under them and lets them work? That sounds great. There is nothing worse than someone who isn’t involved enough to know/need to know about something that slows down meetings asking everyone to explain what they mean. The only thing worse is when someone isn’t paying attention but perks up with certain topic/keywords come up. Often asking questions that were just answered had they been listening.
red-iron-pine 2y ago
so he took notes, summarized the meeting, and ensure that expectations were clarified as to who owns what? that's what whoever called the meeting should be doing, and if they're not, someone should. like it's annoying that the boss needs to keep doing that, but I bet things get done...
- rqtwteye 2y ago
  I should have added that this was the only thing the guy ever did. Otherwise his output was zero or mostly negative.

ASalazarMX 2y ago

This could be a good thing, depending on context. He was paying attention, but let people do their job. An IT director is a facilitator, they don't need to make ALL the decisions, just high-level ones, there are experts on the team for that. The director NEEDS to make sure the company's goals are considered first, that the overall strategy is on track, and that everyone has the resources to do their jobs.

joshstrange 2y ago

Not sure if I’d call that “stealing meetings”, I find it incredibly useful to rephrase what’s been decided on and who will do the next steps because that can easily get lost in the meeting, An IT director who listens to the people under them and lets them work? That sounds great. There is nothing worse than someone who isn’t involved enough to know/need to know about something that slows down meetings asking everyone to explain what they mean. The only thing worse is when someone isn’t paying attention but perks up with certain topic/keywords come up. Often asking questions that were just answered had they been listening.

red-iron-pine 2y ago

so he took notes, summarized the meeting, and ensure that expectations were clarified as to who owns what? that's what whoever called the meeting should be doing, and if they're not, someone should. like it's annoying that the boss needs to keep doing that, but I bet things get done...

rqtwteye 2y ago
I should have added that this was the only thing the guy ever did. Otherwise his output was zero or mostly negative.