
I believe strongly we all have two very specific rights regarding participating in meetings. The rights to:
- Expect that the group will stick to a meeting agenda; and
- Speak up when a meeting goes off-track.
While leaders, organizers and designated facilitators have the most obvious authority to exercise these rights to stick to an agenda and speak up when it isn’t happening, anybody who is participating in a meeting also has these rights. It may not be easy to speak up against the norm or to ask a dominant person to respect the meeting agenda, but your time and your relationships – along with those of everyone participating in your meeting – are too valuable to waste.
Over the years, I have learned to rely on scripts as the easiest and most effective way to disrupt troublesome meeting behavior – behavior that often holds a meeting hostage and prohibits progress. In fact, scripts are one of my most reliable Facilitator on Fire tools – part of what I call my Facilitator on Fire Mindset.
I am so committed to the idea that everyone has the right to speak up in meetings that I want to share my scripts with you!
These scripts can help you get your meeting back on track and take back your time when you notice one of these common behaviors occurring:
- The Monopolizer
- The Boomerang
- The Block
- The Left-Fielder
- I have noticed [the behavior];
- That’s not what we came here to do/it is keeping us from achieving our agenda;
- Can you do [this] instead for the remainder of this meeting/for the next few minutes.
Do you have tips on managing a productive meeting? Questions about how to maintain respect during a damaging meeting? Leave a comment below!

Kay Coughlin, CEO and Chief Facilitator of Facilitator On Fire, is on a mission to help Millennials, Gen X-ers and Boomers (and Zs and Traditionalists, too!) work together on teams that are higher-performing and happier.
Kay’s Great Teams on Purpose Mastermind helps leaders and managers build amazing multi-generational teams (register here) . The skill she teaches in her public speaking, “How to be Heard in a Noisy Business World,” is part of the formula she created to help teams become abundantly successful, together.
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