When you’re in a meeting and trying to discuss department improvements, this is not the time or place for anyone to launch a personal attack on you. The fact that you were supported by one of the other managers is a nice gesture, but you were simultaneously attacked by two others. If any insults should be hurled in this meeting, they should be directed toward whoever is running the meeting, as this individual is totally clueless in such a role.
It is normal for people to respond to a personal verbal assault, and it sounds like you were rather remarkable in the way you handled it. When faced with these types of comments in a situation such as this, many people respond emotionally, defensively, and without their usual controls. The fact that you were able to react professionally only strengthened the validity of your comments while undermining the credibility of theirs.
At this point, you should meet with whoever was running this meeting, express your concern over the way things went, indicate that you are more than willing to discuss such feedback privately, and then ask when the group is going to meet to actually discuss department improvements. Hopefully your comments to this individual will lead to improvements in the meetings as well.
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