Suppressing Dissent: II

In some groups or teams, dissent can be personally risky wherever it occurs — hallway conversation, email, meetings, over lunch, wherever. Last time we described general-purpose techniques some group Leaders use to suppress dissent. In meetings, though, leaders have a wide array of tools for effectively suppressing dissent.

I'm not advocating techniques for suppressing dissent, which is almost always unwise, and probably unethical. Rather, I offer this inventory as a guide to help people recognize patterns of abuse.

Controlling the time and place of meetings

Leaders acting in good faith try to schedule meetings to enable most people to attend. If schedule or location (real or virtual) must change, they announce changes to everyone as soon as possible. Leaders who are determined to create attendance obstacles for specific people, such as Dissenters, can choose times and places accordingly. And they can distribute change announcements accordingly, too.

Controlling invitation and distribution lists

By omitting Dissenters from meeting invitation lists or email distribution lists, Leaders can reduce the probability that Dissenters will receive important information, or be able to attend meetings, whether or not the information or meeting agenda is relevant to the substance of the dissent. These schemes can thus create what appear to be performance issues for Dissenters, which can affect their stature and credibility.

Abusing agenda responsibility

Leaders, who are typically responsible for meeting agendas, can adjust agendas to the disadvantage of Dissenters. Scheduling items so as to make Dissenters' own schedules more difficult, or allocating too little time to Dissenters' items, can create obstacles for Dissenters.

Abusing the parking lot

The Those who become accustomed to
suppressing dissent sometimes
experience expressions of
disagreement as challenges
to their personhood"parking lot" is a list of topics that arise during a meeting, but which aren't closely enough related to the agenda to warrant immediate attention. The Leader can arrange to "park" any points Dissenters raise, whether or not they're eligible for parking according to the usual criteria. And after the meeting, instead of dealing with the Dissenter's parked items, the Leader can arrange for them to be quietly ignored. For more about the parking lot, see "Using the Parking Lot," Point Lookout for September 12, 2007.

Abusing the facilitator's prerogatives

Many Leaders also facilitate their own meetings. As facilitators, they can influence the flow of their meetings by recognizing attendees who wish to comment or contribute to the discussion. They can decide what comments are germane, and they can interrupt contributors. When a contributor is speaking, and another attendee interrupts, Leaders can be selective about halting such interruptions. Although people generally frown upon arbitrariness in exercising the facilitator's prerogatives, in most organizations, attendees can't do much more. Objecting to a Leader's meeting management practices can be risky.

Although Leaders probably are best able to suppress dissent, just about anyone can take steps to do so. Watch for examples around you. First in this series   Top    Next Issue

Is every other day a tense, anxious, angry misery as you watch people around you, who couldn't even think their way through a game of Jacks, win at workplace politics and steal the credit and glory for just about everyone's best work including yours? Read 303 Secrets of Workplace Politics, filled with tips and techniques for succeeding in workplace politics. More info

Your comments are welcome

About Point Lookout

Thank you for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful, and that you'll consider recommending it to a friend.

Point Lookout is a free weekly email newsletter. Browse the archive of past issues. Subscribe for free.

Support Point Lookout by joining the Friends of Point Lookout, as an individual or as an organization.

Do you face a complex interpersonal situation? Send it in, anonymously if you like, and I'll give you my two cents.

Related articles

More articles on Devious Political Tactics:

Deceptive Communications at Work

Most workplace communication training emphasizes constructive uses of communication. But when we also understand how communication can be abused, we're better able to defend ourselves from abusive communication. One form of abusive communication is deception.

Pushing the "Stupid" Button

Some people know exactly how to lead others to feel ignorant or unintelligent. Here's a little catalog of tactics to watch for.

Narcissistic Behavior at Work: II

Narcissistic behavior at work threatens the enterprise. People who behave narcissistically systematically place their own interests and welfare ahead of anyone or anything else. In this Part II of the series we consider the narcissistic preoccupation with superiority fantasies.

Implicit Interrogation Tactics

When one person tries surreptitiously to extract information from another at work, an implicit interrogation is taking place. Here are seven tactics that people use to interrogate others without revealing what they're doing.

Answering Questions You Can't Answer

When someone asks an unanswerable question, many of us respond by asking for clarification. That path can lead to trouble. Responding to a question with a question can seem defensive, or worse. How can you answer a question you can't answer?

See also Devious Political Tactics and Workplace Politics for more related articles.

Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout

Coming June 1: Mental Accounting and Technical Debt

In many organizations, technical debt has resisted efforts to control it. We've made important technical advances, but full control might require applying some results of the behavioral economics community, including a concept they call mental accounting. Available here and by RSS on June 1.

And on June 8: Flexible Queue Management

In meetings of 5-30 participants, managing the queue of contributors can be challenging. A strict first-in-first-out order can cause confusion and waste of time if important contributions are delayed. Some meetings need more flexible queue management. Available here and by RSS on June 8.

Coaching services

I offer email and telephone coaching at both corporate and individual rates. Contact Rick for details at rbrenEQuetChPjwYBDxmgner@ChacxXTxBssoFmfDfMugoCanyon.com or (650) 787-6475, or toll-free in the continental US at (866) 378-5470.

Get the ebook!

Past issues of Point Lookout are available in six ebooks:

• Get 2001-2 in Geese Don't Land on Twigs (PDF, )
• Get 2003-4 in Why Dogs Wag (PDF, )
• Get 2005-6 in Loopy Things We Do (PDF, )
• Get 2007-8 in Things We Believe That Maybe Aren't So True (PDF, )
• Get 2009-10 in The Questions Not Asked (PDF, )
• Get all of the first twelve years (2001-2012) in The Collected Issues of Point Lookout (PDF, )

Are you a writer, editor or publisher on deadline? Are you looking for an article that will get people talking and get compliments flying your way? You can have 500-1000 words in your inbox in one hour. License any article from this Web site. More info

Public seminars

The Power Affect: How We Express Our Personal Power

Many people who possess real organizational power have a characteristic demeanor. It's the way they project their presence. I call this the power affect. Some people — call them power pretenders — adopt the power affect well before they attain significant organizational power. Unfortunately for their colleagues, and for their organizations, power pretenders can attain organizational power out of proportion to their merit or abilities. Understanding the power affect is therefore important for anyone who aims to attain power, or anyone who works with power pretenders. Read more about this program.

• A recording of a program presented June 29, 2017, Monthly Webinar, sponsored by Technobility Webinar Series. PMI members can earn 1.0 Category 'A' PDU by viewing this program. View this program now.
   
• A recording of a program presented June 29, 2017, Monthly Webinar, sponsored by Technobility Webinar Series. PMI members can earn 1.0 Category 'A' PDU by viewing this program. View this program now.
   

Bullet Points: Mastery or Madness?

Decision makers in modern organizations commonly demand briefings in the form of bullet points or a series of series of bullet points. But this form of presentation has limited value for complex decisions. We need something more. We actually need to think. Briefers who combine the bullet-point format with a variety of persuasion techniques can mislead decision makers, guiding them into making poor decisions. Read more about this program.

• A recording of a program presented June 24, 2020, Monthly Webinar, sponsored by Technobility Webinar Series. PMI members can earn 1.0 Category 'A' PDU by viewing this program. View this program now.
   
• A recording of a program presented June 24, 2020, Monthly Webinar, sponsored by Technobility Webinar Series. PMI members can earn 1.0 Category 'A' PDU by viewing this program. View this program now.