👀 Are you always on your phone or laptop during meetings?

I'm noticing a very troubling (and frankly, annoying) habit during physical meetings, trainings and even face to face conversations: people constantly staring into their phones, and on their laptops  checking emails and Teams. 

The problem is that there is almost a demand for this behavior. People want to be seen as someone who's responsive and always contactable. No matter the circumstances, you can count on me to respond. 

The flipside, thought is that habits like these that destroy meeting productivity and render them a "waste of time" - habits that create distrust and doubt that people are truly present, let alone actively participating.  And for face to face interactions and conversations, habitually staring into screens are just straight up disrespectful. 

Here's an interesting and refreshing excerpt I picked up from the book “15 Secrets successful People Know About Time Management” by Kevin Kruse:

“Do you check your phone for text messages or emails during business meetings? 

If you answered yes, research from the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business suggests you are annoying your boss and colleagues. Their study found: 

✅ 86 percent think it’s inappropriate to answer phone calls during formal meetings.

✅ 84 percent think it’s inappropriate to write texts or emails during formal meetings.

✅ 75 percent think it’s inappropriate to read texts or emails during formal meetings.

✅ 66 percent think it’s inappropriate to write texts or emails during any meetings.

✅ At least 22 percent think it’s inappropriate to use phones during any meetings.

Why do so many people—especially more successful people—find smartphone use in meetings to be inappropriate? It’s because when you access your phone, it shows: 

1. Lack of respect. You consider the information on your phone to be more important than the conversation in the meeting; you view people outside of the meeting to be more important than those sitting in front of you. 

2. Lack of attention. You are unable to stay focused on more than one item at a time; the ability to multitask is a myth. Lack of listening. You aren’t demonstrating the attention and focus that is required of truly active listening. 

3. Lack of power. You are like a modern day Pavlovian dog who responds to the beck and call of others through the buzz of your phone.

To make the most of valuable time spent in meetings, participants should mute and pocket their devices and leave them in their pockets."

(End Quote)

Be Present. In body, heart, mind and soul. Regain your respect, attention and power. Play your part to make that session flourish and make the best of it.