Zoom Breakout Room Dynamics

The Imposition of a Dominant Player

This past year I’ve engaged in an increasing number of Zoom sessions. How about you? Recently, a variety of jobs, courses, community groups, and other gatherings have taken advantage of the Zoom format and similar platforms. While it’s gratifying to use such technology, the new mode of connecting doesn’t come without snafus.

The biggest hindrance for me is when a Zoom session feels infiltrated by a dominant player. This kind of participant lacks understanding about how to share the space with others. This imposition is especially noticeable when a Zoom session has breakout rooms. You know, when the facilitator creates smaller rooms to give a subset of participants the opportunity to elaborate more intimately on a given topic. Sounds nifty, right?! Well, it can be if everyone’s on the same page about how to share the “air space.”

Here’s the issue: Even when etiquette guidelines are stated, you can run into unequal sharing dynamics when there’s a dominant player. I’ve had multiple experiences in breakout rooms when someone in the group overlooked the etiquette guidelines. The reality is some participants fall into the behavior of being a dominant player regardless of the scenario. Like the person who has to have the biggest piece of the the pie. In a small group of 3 to 5 people, a dominant player doesn’t allow…