The leader was frustrated. He noticed that one of his team members had started playing power games. This person didn’t seem willing to accept the constraints of his role or those put in place by the leader.

In preparation for a meeting, this person explained that her presentation would take longer than the time allocated.

I was an invitation the leader found hard to deal with. His first idea was to delegate the decision to the team and have them decide. It seemed to be the democratic move. However, he quickly realized that it was also delegating the power game to the team.

It became clear that there was no simple solution: The leader needed to figure out how to keep his authority while avoiding stepping into the power game he was being invited into.

We came to the conclusion, that the best the leader could do was to remind everyone of the planned duration and to then address the situation as it was happening. Depending on the presentation as it unfolded, the reactions of the participants, and the atmosphere in the room, the leader would choose how to react.

It would become evident what was most supportive of the meeting as it unfolded. Whatever his relationship with that team member at the moment, the priority during the meeting was the meeting itself and its productivity.

After the meeting, there would still be plenty of time left to address the power game and search for ways to resolve it.