Thanks to Bill Donnelly of Bac2Profit for snapping us back to reality on some basic business etiquette.
I’ve just finished watching a commercial for a new Droid phone (you can put another name in its place). Am I to believe I can be more efficient and more effective by answering emails IN THE MIDDLE OF A MEETING?
I have so many issues with the commercial and what it attempts to sell I want to SCREAM! Let’s start with:
1. Simple respect – to take a call or answer an email during a meeting or presentation is just rude. Have we forgotten manners?
2. Listening – by taking your attention from the meeting and the issue being discussed you CANNOT be listening. If you are not listening, how can you be engaged?
3. Distraction – if you think answering a call or answering an email is not distracting to others, you are kidding yourself. If you are their distraction, how can they be listening?
4. Focusing – what is your definition? Clearly, it is different than mine.
What I believe is we are not more efficient or effective with all this technology around us. How many times a day while working on a project do you read and answer new “urgent” emails as they arrive? How many times a day do you answer your mobile phone when it rings to take an “urgent” call from a friend or significant other? How often do you stop what you are doing to sneak a peek at your Facebook account or personal email?
HOW MUCH IS YOUR INATTENTION AND DISTACTED TIME WORTH IN DOLLARS AND CENTS?
Let me be clear, technology has helped make me be better but most of us have let it take control of us because we BELIEVE we are being more efficient and effective.
IT’S TIME TO TAKE CONTROL BACK, IT’S TIME TO REMEMBER “LESS IS MORE”
1. Leave the devices behind. Respect the people in the meeting. Their time is valuable too.
2. Pay attention and listen. If it’s that important someone will interrupt the meeting and believe me, IT’S NOT THAT IMPORTANT.
3. Set an example. If you pay attention and listen you cannot be the distraction. Others will follow your example.
4. My definition of focus is simple, being able to understand, ask pertinent questions, challenge where appropriate and come to a conclusion or decision. Finishing the task at hand.
It’s about doing one thing at a time and doing it to the best of your ability. Put away the ________ (you fill in the blank) where appropriate. Listen, focus on what is right in front of you and become THE Instrument of Efficiency.
Great points, Bill. I think I can safely say that most of us do not have our finger poised over the "red button", nor are we waiting to perform emergency brain surgery. So, what the heck is so important that it can't wait until the meeting is over? In some cultures, guests leave their shoes at the door - maybe we should start having people leave their cell phones at the door... I'm just sayin'...
ReplyDeleteThis is conversation about manners and cell phones. I agree 100% or 1000% (remember George McGovern?) that cell phones are intrusive at meetings and some users are very rude. However the technology in today’s smart phones can be a very useful tool for either a consultant or owner/operator of a small business.
ReplyDeleteI take notes on my Nokia E73 and sometimes record the whole meeting. But I also turn my phone to “airplane” mode before I enter a meeting. Knowing how to leverage the tool is critical to using its benefits. One key reason why I bought the Nokia, is that I can use Bluetooth to project my notes for a meeting or even a concept power point on to larger screens or clients computers. I do PowerPoint, Excel, and word documents that I share, so I can’t leave my “phone” out of a meeting.
I don’t pull my “phone out” until I’ve reached the point where it is needed, but it saves me countless hours of retyping notes (which I use as a “todo” on the calendar so it transfers to Outlook when I sync the two machines). If you really use the power of the “smart phone” it won’t block your relationship it will enhance it. Time management is crucial, and it is a tool I teach most of my clients. One of my key success is to teach managers not to use written notes because they cannot become part of the firms “memory easily” nor searched quickly.
Without sounding like a Microsoft evangelist, using a free form data base like OneNote and Outlook/Business contact manager and syncing your field notes/quick thoughts has been a key to every one of my customers success in becoming a true “manager”. If understood and used properly information management technology can and does create benefits for consultants and customers.