DEALING TRICKY SITUATIONS

AS A QUALITY PROFESSIONAL
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 Overview

Classification of people

Professional strategies

Dealing with unrealistic

suggestions

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 Classification of difficult
people and situations

Argumentative people
Dominators
Side meetings (Distractors)
Zombies
Sleeping beauties
Unrealistic persons

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Professional strategies
Prepare for the meeting
Be positive
Use nonverbal communication
Show integrity
Throw the ball to the audience
Ask specific people questions

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Prepare for the meeting
Meet the team before the meeting, give a brief
overview of the agenda, and get their opinion
and buy-in, if possible.
If the concerned people have different views,
gather the required details so you can answer
counter questions beforehand.

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Be positive
Use a positive tone, no matter how much
someone is trying to put you down.
Think win-win and smile—it’s really effective.
You also could crack a professionally acceptable
joke to ease the situation.

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Use nonverbal communication
 Avoid eye contact with argumentative people.
 Don’t take long pauses with argumentative people and
dominators.
 Taking a deep breath with no expression is effective at
sending a visual message for him/her to contribute
positively.
 Joining the fingers of both hands together boosts
confidence and shows control over the situation.
 To stop someone from using his or her phone, ask the
person a question or start a discussion with him or her.

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Show integrity

 If you make a mistake, accepting it with dignity and

agreeing to correct it demonstrates strong character and
earns the audience’s trust and respect.
 If you don’t know the answer to the audience queries,
accept that you don’t know the answer and commit to
find out and follow up later. This builds trust with the
audience.

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Throw the ball to the audience
 If someone asks a question to which you don’t know or
remember the answer and you need some time to think,
throw the question to the audience to get its take on the
matter.
 Someone from the crowd will either answer the question
or prompt you to take it further.
 This keeps the audience engaged and involved, and it
gives you time to think and remember details.

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Ask specific people questions
 Many things can distract people during a meeting
such as side conversations, technology or pure
boredom.
 Ask the person relevant questions directly or use the
person’s name when giving examples to bring their
attention back to the meeting.

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Dealing with Unrealistic suggestions

 Next phase. When out-of-scope requirements or

suggestions pop up during a meeting, you can say, “This
will be taken care of in the next phase of the project.”
 Proof of Concept (POC). Appreciate the idea or
suggestion and ask the person who suggested it to
perform a POC and present it at the next meeting.
 Feasibility study. This assigns responsibility to the
person giving the suggestion.

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