disruptive personality in a meeting - what would you do?

[VivaRN]

Hello,

Looking for advice without giving too many details...

I am a new supervisor and one of my duties is to chair a committee of interdisciplinary staff ~ about 20+ people. At a past meeting, before I was hired, one committee member stole the floor and engaged in personal attacks against one of my employees. From what I can gather nothing was done. The employee was very hurt and is fearful of this individual.

We will have repeated interactions and meetings with this individual in the future. How would you handle this? Has this ever happened to you? I want to be proactive but I don't want to escalate the issue further.

Thanks

[virgo,student nurse, CNA]

You know I m upset for you.

This person needs to be told that they are inappropriate, and the behavior will not be tolerated. This needs to be documented and if they continue this behavior they need to be met with discipline. No one should be personally attacked and fear someone in the workplace. You and your supervisor need to meet with this person,along with this persons supervisor and explain to this person what is wrong with what they did, what you and THE team expect from this person,and the consequences of what will happen if they do not comply.

At my place of employment this would be considered workplace violence.

Wishing you the best with the situation.

[heron, ASN, RN]

As chair, it seems to me to be appropriate to state the purpose of the committee and, when the conversation is hijacked to refer the hijacker to her/his own chain of command to deal with those criticisms.

If the criticisms are germane to the job of the committee, then maybe put the loudmouth to work preparing suggestions for solving the problem ... rewriting a job description, for instance, or identifying system failures that the committee could address.

[VivaRN]

As chair, it seems to me to be appropriate to state the purpose of the committee and, when the conversation is hijacked to refer the hijacker to her/his own chain of command to deal with those criticisms.

If the criticisms are germane to the job of the committee, then maybe put the loudmouth to work preparing suggestions for solving the problem ... rewriting a job description, for instance, or identifying system failures that the committee could address.

Thank you, I was thinking if the individual acts out again to say very firmly "personal attacks will not be tolerated. We can meet to discuss privately after the meeting."

[caliotter3]

I would certainly be tempted to start the meeting by asking this person to leave!