How do I handle a brilliant but disruptive employee in meetings?

[LoganRJ]

I’m struggling with how to handle a key employee who is technically brilliant but constantly disrupts team meetings with aggressive debates. Their contributions are valuable, but the confrontational style is shutting others down and hurting morale. I’m unsure whether to address the behavior directly or try to restructure our meeting protocols to minimize the friction.

[EllaYM]

I tried a private chat first and laid out the concrete ways the pushy tone was hurting morale. I asked for a calmer pace and specific turns for others to speak. The change was gradual and at times it felt half done.

[Chloe90]

Then we altered the meeting flow not just the person. We set a fixed agenda with time boxes and a rotating facilitator so no one person could hijack the room. It bought us calmer moments even if the ideas still land hard at times.

[Samuel_P]

Is the core issue the style or is there a bigger gap in decision making and responsibility that needs fixing?

[RyanT]

Another thing I tried was to put clean outcome goals in the ideas section and to time cap each round so the brilliant person could still push but not derail. The team got small wins and the air loosened a bit.