I would like to voice out an unpopular address with regards to an ongoing and ever-increasing epidemic issue occurring amongst executives attending formal trainings, especially my brothers and sisters in PETRONAS: the Failure of Mindfulness and Being Present.
I have noticed that throughout courses, seminars, technical trainings – and even the meetings occurring in the office – people are busy with their mobile phones, checking and responding to e-mails, aggressively responding to their WhatsApp and Skype messages, and shamelessly checking their Facebook/Instagram feeds throughout the session(s). As a result, they are not actively benefitting from the session at hand, or adding any value whatsoever to the proceedings, and their attendance and apparent signatures are only superficial indicators of their physical presence. What value is the certificate of attendance if your mind was half-way around the world most of the time?
During meetings and discussions, those who are guilty of this, they barely ever contribute anything, and when their input is sought they will nonchalantly ask “huh? Can you repeat” and the whole quorum has to waste time backtracking to get them up to speed for their lack of attentive participation.
It’s made worse when bosses themselves are guilty of these habitual distractions – and in some cases it’s very obvious that it’s an evasion technique to avoid responsibility or accountability because they are “not involved” as they are catching up on messages of their school classmates WhatsApp groups.
I find it appalling that this behavior is at its worst during technical trainings and seminars – barely any participant these days seem to be actively participating and learning. Come on guys. The company invested money in you to upgrade your competency – by the course fees, logistics costs and by literally absorbing the manhour cost of your absence from the office to attend – so we owe it to ourselves to demonstrate some professionalism and integrity to discipline ourselves to make the best in benefitting from them.
And again, it’s made worse by bosses who “lead by example” and just instruct their subordinates to attend meetings and escape during training sessions. Show some respect to the organization and your subordinates’ professional development.
Unfortunately, even on a smaller scale, this annoying trend of habitual distraction also happens amongst others on very personal levels during one-on-one conversations: whenever their phone vibrates, they immediately steal a 3-second glance to read their notifications and whatsapp messages (iPhone users are often guilty of this, as the screen lights up). And then they get derailed from the conversation completely. This is very disrespectful on a personal level, let alone a professional environment.
A reminder to myself and to others: yes, you're "busy". I get it. But there is a time and place to be checking emails and entertaining distractions. But be honest with ourselves and uphold standards of professionalism and respect to be present when the situations call for it – BE PRESENT.
And the same applies towards communication between our family members. Perhaps even more so.
Communication technology was designed to ENHANCE communication, not make it worse. It should INCREASE productivity, not turn us into narcissistic habitual creatures of mass distraction.
Entertaining distractions is your decision – so make the responsible choices.
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