MVP Andy Leonard has written a nice post about how the dynamics changed on a project team. Most of it centered around a PM who overstepped his role and then played the usual game to cover his own shortcomings. However, said PM straightened up, albeit after a contentious meeting which didn't go the PM's way. In this particular case it was a PM, but the role could be played by anyone on a particular project. What I liked was how Andy talked about staying cool in the meeting that led to the start of the change. Also, he countered accusations and blustery with facts and realistic, logical statements based on those facts.
This falls in line with a book I got the opportunity to partially read recently called Bullies, Tyrants, and Impossible People by Robert Shapiro, Mark Jankowski, and James Dale. They propose a methodology for dealing with difficult people called N.I.C.E. N stands for Neutralize Emotions, the first step. When we get emotional, we tend to not think as well. We don't communicate as well. And when dealing with a difficult person (why the person is being difficult is what I - Identify Type is about), we actually hurt our ability to drive the situation. Andy's real world situation falls right in line with the N.I.C.E. methodology.
