You’re a relatively junior member of your office team, so when an Outlook invite comes in for a meeting called by someone higher up the food chain you dutifully reply that you’ll attend. But when you’re actually in the room it quickly becomes clear that the whole event is a waste of time. Maybe no one is prepared, maybe the facilitator lacks the necessary skills to get things going, or maybe the decision maker is feeling squeamish about making a call, but through no fault of your own the meeting is going nowhere fast.

It’s not your meeting, but does that mean there’s nothing you can do to help? No, says Melissa Raffoni on the HBR Conversation blog. Even rank-and-file members of the office team can take matters into their own hands with offending anyone. How? Consider playing dumb:

Be brave. Play dumb. Even if you think you know what’s going on, you may not really get it or you may sense others don’t get it. Consider the power of the statement, “I’m sorry, I’m lost. Can somebody help me understand what problem we are trying to solve and what needs to happen to resolve it? Joe, can you help me out?” The key to the success of this tactic is not your question. It’s Joe. The person you appeal to should be one of the strongest communicators in the room. It forces the group to stop and hear what’s being muddled from one of the best communicators. It often helps get a group back on track. Playing dumb is pretty smart.

Raffoni goes on to make a few more great, concrete suggestions including asking “Who has the D?” to focus the group on what needs to be decided and who will be make the final call, and how to deal with a meeting that’s missing key people (simply identify who’s missing and go get her, or reschedule for a time when she’s available). Read more on the Conversation blog.

Make Your Meetings Matter What Your Attitude to Meetings Reveals About You Tips for Minimizing Meeting from Seth Godin

  Tag: Accounting jobs | Banking jobs | Manufacturing jobs | Life Sciences jobs | Human Resources jobs | hr jobs | marketing jobs | Procurement jobs | Supply Chain jobs | Secretarial jobs | Office Support jobs | Risk Management jobs | Chemical jobs | Process jobs | Electronic jobs | Environmental jobs | Quality jobs | Quality Assurance jobs | Compliance jobs | Training jobs | IT Management jobs | Programming jobs | Systems Administration jobs | Brand Management jobs | Product Management jobs | Market Research jobs | Commercial jobs | Contract jobs | Planning jobs | Construction Management jobs | Real Estate jobs | Pharmaceutical jobs |