How Should I Address a Senior's Disruptive Behavior in Meetings Without Escalating Tensions?

Handling Improper Behavior in Meetings

I am new in HR and have no supervisor to guide me. I need advice for a recent incident in our office. During a meeting in which all our staff members were present, a senior member behaved improperly. She criticized the work of a member and pointed out certain pointless flaws in the presentations, such as data not being sorted in ascending or descending order, the method used to calculate values should be different, definitions of the terms used are wrong, and why the fax and printer machines are not near her office, etc. She openly commented that no one performs their duties and no one is significant enough in this organization except her team. She even said that if it were not for her team, no one would have been getting salaries. Due to this, the whole meeting looked like a mess, and everybody present there felt irritated. Later in the day, the aftereffects showed up as members were seen gossiping about all this. When talked to in person, she openly said that no one in this organization is doing their job properly, and my team is under the impression that only they are working the most. She accused me of lobbying with the presenter and others and said I am only trying to defend them.

My concern was that even if no one is performing, she shouldn’t have commented like that and mocked everybody for being in support teams. This is highly demotivating. Please let me know how to warn her about her behavior, any format? Or what should I be doing as I do not want to encourage her as well as upset her to be even more intimidating in the future. She has unique leadership abilities which we really appreciate.

Regards,
Nascent HR

How senior are you compared to the member who commented adversely. The person seems to be egoistic and opinionated. Such comments are out of place and need to be curbed. The proper person who can caution and advise her is someone senior to her and to whom she reports.

As per my views, you should have control over the associates. In this situation, you may give her a verbal warning.

Analyzing the Incident and Addressing the Issue

Other senior members have given their suggestions or have asked their queries on your post. Please clarify on these. While clarifying, confirm your designation, to whom you report, the number of employees in your company, the type of your industry, etc.

Let us analyze the cause of this incident. Incidents like these happen when:

- Managers are made accountable for their deliverables and not for the organization's culture as such. The creation of a performance-centric culture is important, but performance is also linked to the motivation or demotivation of the employees. They are not accountable for the motivation of the employees.

- Managers do not know the components of the organization's culture and how it fosters or hinders the growth of the company.

- Managers are not taught the importance of maintaining a healthy interpersonal environment in the company.

- Managers are not taught how to give feedback, when to give it, and where to give it.

Solution: Addressing the Feedback Issue

Instead of directly confronting the senior member, I recommend you submit a report on the meeting to the Managing Director (MD) of your company. Also, to whom you report matters. If you do not report directly to the MD, then discuss this with the person to whom you report. Obtain his/her views. If your designation is too low, then escalate the issue upward. If you are also a manager, then you may talk to your MD. The managers need to be given feedback on the incorrect method of giving feedback. She has violated the basic principle of motivation, i.e., "praise in public and criticize in private."

The incident must reach the ears of the MD. If the MD also favors her, then it shows that he is also not interested in maintaining a healthy organizational culture. In that case, just wait for a few more months/years and then move on.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

Handling Sensitive Matters with Senior Staff

Such matters concerning a Head of Department (HOD) need careful handling. The first thing is you should have verbally informed the CEO, who is the head of the organization, and followed it up in writing after seeing the CEO's reaction. I presume you are junior to this lady in the organization, though not working under her supervision. Notwithstanding this, matters concerning the behavior of senior people need very diplomatic and tactful handling.

I would now go to the CEO and present all the facts of the case and how she reacted upon reading your email on the topic. Handle her outbursts calmly and do not react angrily or fearfully.

Regards

Dear Madanagopalswamy,

The person who has allegedly misbehaved is a HOD. The HR officer is junior in status from what I understand. How can a junior employee call a senior employee and question her??

I sincerely suggest you post your suggestions AFTER going through the remarks, comments, and suggestions of ALL the postings prior to yours. That will save everyone a lot of trouble—ABSOLUTELY no ill meaning here. I am NOT basing these comments only on this thread.

In this case, here's a lady who seems to be out of her wits on what to do, and such suggestions are ONLY bound to confuse her further.

Let's assume she REALLY follows your suggestion in the presumption that you are SENIOR and experienced in HR, without realizing the consequences, and calls the HOD lady to her table/cabin—I am sure you can imagine the next scene in that office and WHO'S to blame for that scenario? Does she deserve that scenario just for asking help through this Forum? It's up to you to figure out.

Advice for Handling Workplace Issues

First and foremost, in ANY such situations—now or later—putting things in writing, even for just a query or clarification, should be the LAST resort or when one wants to build a case for drastic action later, whatever it may be.

Like Nathrao suggested, go to your MD and give the facts of the situation, NOT like you complain but just the plain facts as you noticed them. And IF you think that's a bit tricky to handle, suggest putting the views as those of some employees and what you noticed about the gossiping. DON'T push it too hard. Like Dinesh Divekar mentioned, if the MD is also not too serious (which is quite possible, given this HOD lady's value to the Company), just forget it. At the end of the day, the MD ought to worry more than you.

Unfortunately, achievers in small companies get into this mindset that THEY carry the WHOLE organization on their shoulders—in short, they 'feel' they are indispensable and the CEO/MD usually doesn't have the guts to control this nature until it becomes too overbearing and in all likelihood would usually lead to rough exits than solutions.

But I wouldn't agree with Dinesh Divekar when he says 'just wait for a few more months/years and move on.' Frankly, I don't see this going on for more than a few months here IF the MD ignores, going by what you mentioned.

All the Best.

Regards,
TS