Insights / Delivery
The person who takes over the room
Every recurring session has one. Handled badly, you lose either the room or the person. Handled with structure, neither.
By McKinley Malbrough III, J.D., MS-HRM. Published September 17, 2026.
Why does structure work better than a direct correction?
Because a public correction makes the session about status, and the room stops working on the topic and starts watching the conflict. Structure moves the same person without a winner or a loser.
"I want three more voices before we come back to this" is a rule about the session. "Let somebody else talk" is a judgment about a person.
What if I did not set rules at the start?
Set one now, framed as a change to the format rather than a response to a person. "I am going to switch us to written answers for this next part" is a legitimate facilitation move at any point.
It works once. Do it twice in the same session and the room knows exactly what you are doing.
What if it is the most senior person in the room?
Handle it before the session, not during. A two minute call the day before, asking them to hold their view until after the group has spoken, works in most cases and costs you nothing.
Executives who dominate are usually not aware of the effect, and most will take the note if it is framed as making the session more useful to them.
When do I stop managing it and escalate?
When it crosses from talking too much into targeting a person. That is no longer a facilitation problem, it is a conduct problem, and it belongs with whoever owns conduct.
Know that path before the session. In California, once a supervisor knows, the employer knows, and a facilitator who is also a supervisor has started that clock.
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