5. DEADLY MISTAKE #5: Allowing an outsider who has nothing at all to do with your meeting interrupt the meeting. Believe it or not, most of the time interruptions are not necessary. Often women allow it, because the interrupter is the boss or some one else we highly favor for some reason or another. But if the person is not a formal participant of your meeting any interruption other than an emergency should not be put up with! Note that most interruptions are not emergencies. If there is an emergency ask one of the participants to step out of the meeting to take care of the emergency. Or if you as the facilitator of the meeting have to step out, ask another person in the meeting to take over until you return. HOW TO AVOID INTERRUPTIONS FROM OUTSIDERS WHO HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE MEETING. This actually is easy to do. Just tell the person you will be with them at the stated time of the end of the meeting or at the break time. I have also found that if a high level person interrupts, they usually gain more respect for you when you tell them you will get right back to them “immediately” as soon as you finish the meeting. Telling them “immediately” puts their needs at a very high level and maintains respect for their position. One of the problems that women often have is standing up to authority. Authority often respects a woman more, when she respectfully takes her authority!

SUMMARY Avoid mistakes especially now that you know the common ones. Also take the lead and even be in charge at making meetings run smoothly even if you have not called the meeting. Also let me know what you thought about this article.

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