I have a colleague in a different department that I perceive to be rude and unnecessarily confrontational in customer interactions. A representative of this department has to be present in customer meetings and will usually chair them. It is not on me (or anyone in my department) to decide who from the other department will participate in these customer meetings.
I feel that the behaviour of this particular colleague leaves a bad impression with the customer due to creating an unnecessarily hostile atmosphere.
Are there any strategies to improve the situation, when I find myself in a customer meeting chaired by him? How do I avoid that we, as a company, leave a bad impression with the customer?
Note: Escalating to management will not solve the problem immediately, since this is a different department. I am hence looking for ideas what I personally can do to improve those meetings while my manager is dealing with it. For the sake of the question, please assume that my perception of these meetings is correct and it is indeed not in my company's interest to behave like that towards the customer.