Whenever there is a disruptive person or someone who is not participating in a group there is an opportunity. In either instance, you need to them to help your group achieve its goals, on time and within budget.

For this instance, I would encourage a one on one meeting with the person. In the meeting, begin with the big picture of the team's goals. Share your vision of the team and the need for members to actively participate and deliver their portions of the assignments. After setting the larger stage, you may share something that they did that was positive or helpful. This may be a suggestion, an action, a follow up, etc.

Then it is time to state the desired behavior for group dynamics. In this instance, you may want each member to contribute, or to not interrupt another speaker while they make a point, etc. Share with them their behavior on this dimension and provide a suggestion for more desireable behavior.

In this manner, you start big and gradually get to their issue and provide a suggestion for their behavior or better still, have them identify the gap and provide a solution. Importantly, before your meeting is over, you should have an agreement on the approach for the next meeting with the larger group.

Following the next group meeting, you will have an opportunity to reinforce the person's good behavior and provide specific examples of them performing in the desired manner.

Continued success!

Dwain Celistan
Career Acceleration Coach