Posts

#Leadership : ‘I Lost It’: The #Boss Who Banned Phones, and What Came Next… #Employers Limit Cellphone use to Regain Attentiveness. Workers use Watches and Laptops Instead.

/in /by

Two thousand six hundred seventeen times a day. That is how often the average person taps, pokes, pinches or swipes their personal phone.

It all adds up to about 2 hours and 25 minutes, according to a study by mobile app research firm Dscout Inc. And a good chunk of that time comes during work hours.

Jason Brown had had enough of it. Two years ago, the chief executive of Brown, Parker & DeMarinis Advertising paused for a moment to look across the meeting room as he delivered a presentation. The majority of those gathered were fiddling with their phones.

“I lost it,” says Mr. Brown.

In his anger, he issued a companywide edict:“Don’t show up at a meeting with me with your phone. If someone shows up with their phone, it’ll be their last meeting.”

Many managers are conflicted about how—or even whether—to limit smartphone use in the workplace. Smartphones enable people to get work done remotely, stay on top of rapid business developments and keep up with clients and colleagues. But the devices are also the leading productivity killers in the workplace, according to a 2016 survey of more than 2,000 executives and human-resource managers conducted by CareerBuilder, an HR software and services company.

Like this Article?  Share It !    You now can easily enjoy/follow/share Today our Award Winning Articles/Blogs with Now Over 2.5 Million Growing  Participates Worldwide in our various Social Media formats below:

FSC LinkedIn Network:   www.linkedin.com/in/fscnetwork

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/First-Sun-Consulting-LLC-Outplacement-Services/213542315355343?sk=wall

Google+:  https://plus.google.com/115673713231115398101/posts?hl=en

Twitter: Follow us @ firstsunllc

Question: Want the ‘the best/current articles/blogs on the web’ on Job Search, Resume, Advancing/Changing your Career, or simply Managing People?

Answer: Simply go to our FSC Career Blog below & type(#career, #leadership, #life) in Blog Search:https://www.firstsun.com/fsc-career-blog/

What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

Continue of article:

There is also some evidence that productivity suffers in the mere presence of smartphones. When workers in a recent study by the University of Texas and University of California had their personal phones placed on their desks—untouched—their cognitive performance was lower than when their devices were in another location, such as in a handbag or the pocket of a coat hanging near their workspace.

“I firmly believe that multitasking is a myth,” says Bill Hoopes, an IT project manager at L3 TechnologiesInc.

Mr. Hoopes put his convictions into practice at group gatherings when he took over a team of about 25 people at the aerospace defense company three years ago. “Every time someone’s phone went off, they had to stand for the rest of the meeting,” he says. Before long, he asked the group to leave their phones at their desks when two or more people got together.

Over time, he says, he has noticed not only an improvement in the quality of conversation and ideas in meetings, but also that his people seem to show more respect and appreciation for one another’s work.

Mat Ishbia, CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage, banned technology from meetings about two years ago and recently asked that his executive team and other managers not check their phones as they walk to and from meetings.

 “Don’t act like we’re too important to say hello,” he says he told them. “Make eye contact with people.”

Mr. Ishbia is now piloting another solution to phone addiction. A group of about 250 workers are part of an experiment in which they refrain from all personal phone use at their desks. If they want to use their devices they must go to a common area designated for phone use and socializing. Forty-five days into the trial run, workers are checking their phones a lot less, he said.

Bryan Lee, a product manager at enterprise software company Docker Inc., suspected that his daily phone use was a problem, so last month he installed an app called Moment on his iPhone that tracks the total amount of daily time he spent on his phone. His first measurement revealed four hours in a day. Since early April, he’s reduced that to roughly an hour.

At work, Mr. Lee persuaded his team of eight to download the app and post their daily phone hours on a whiteboard. The team member with the lowest time gets bragging rights.

“We’re thinking of having a trophy we can pass around—or maybe just shaming the loser,” he says.

Handheld devices can be a valuable source of information during office gatherings.  Shane Wooten, CEO of enterprise video platform company Vidplat LLC, recently surprised a group of corporate clients with a request that they leave their electronic devices outside. “They didn’t like it,” he says.

Since January, Mr. Wooten has limited personal devices at meetings with his employees and faced some resistance. Workers argue their phones are vital for staying in touch with a sick child or researching information relevant to the meeting.

“I told them we’re not in middle school,” he says. “I’m not collecting phones in a bucket. Just don’t have it out faceup on the table.”

Google Inc. announced last week that the next version of its operating system for Android phones will include a feature that is meant to help people who feel tethered to their devices. It will let users see how much time they spend on their phones, show which apps they use the most and display how often the phone gets unlocked.

Instead of phones, staffers wore smartwatches to meetings or brought their laptops, which were just as distracting, he says, adding that workers said they were worried about missing calls and emails from clients.

Now, he tells his 40 employees not to attend meetings unless they really have to be there and strongly advises they fully engage.

Mr. Brown missed his phone too and likened the experience to outlawing alcohol during the Prohibition era: “A theoretical state that almost no one wants to live in, including those making the rules,” he says.

Write to John Simons at John.Simons@wsj.com

 

WSJ.com | May 17, 2018 | John Simons

[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

#Leadership : Hate #Meetings? 5 Ways to Stop Them From Being a Waste of Time…The Time you Actually Spend in Meetings Might Depend on How Much your #Boss (or you) Actually Likes Them.

/in /by

Meetings are infamously the bane of work life. As far as workplace drudgery goes, they’re right up there withchecking emails and mandatory fire drills. But no matter whether you work for a Fortune 500 company or one that’s just getting started, meetings are a necessary evil in order to run smoothly and have employees on the same page. If Google and Apple are still holding meetings, chances are your company will need to as well.

The time you actually spend in meetings might depend on how much your boss (or you) actually likes them. The Harvard Business Review found that one large company’s executive meeting led to 300,000 hours per year spent supporting it with smaller meetings (the higher-ups met with their divisional employees in order to be preparedfor their weekly executive get-together.) Overall, about 15% of a company’s collective time in spent in a meeting room somewhere. The Wall Street Journal reported that in a sample of 65 CEOs, about 32% of their logged hours were spent in meetings. It’s a small sample, but based on conventional wisdom doesn’t seem far-fetched.

Software creator Atlassian estimates that most employees will have an average of 62 meetings to attend per month, and many people consider at least half of that time to be wasted. While that might seem like a lot, meeting regularly can be a good thing. That’s because if employees are given enough time to have a back-and-forth discussion with the decision-makers, they have the chance to express their opinions on goals or new strategies for the company. “The plan often changes because of the team’s input. And consensus is neither assumed nor achieved with any regularity. In the end, though, everyone feels like they’ve said their bit, and they’re able to back up the decision because of this,” writes Kristine Kern, a consultant for workplace adviser The Table Group.

Whether you’re the executive who’s normally hosting the meetings or if you’re expected to be in charge of one once in a while, there are a few ways to make sure they go off without a hitch, and are actually productive at the same time. Here are five things to keep in mind.

 

1. Start on time

 

Yes, your mother’s wisdom about the importance of punctuality really does have a huge impact on setting the right tone for a meeting, right away. If they enter the meeting thinking about the other things they have to get done, and then you wait an extra 10 minutes until you begin, you’re signaling that their other projects aren’t as important as shooting the breeze waiting for the straggler or two to show up. Starting on time — and letting the latecomers realize they’ve inconvenienced the group — will encourage prompt attendance from everyone, writes BFG Communications founder Kevin Meany.

Old-Fashioned Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe

If meetings are known to start on time, at every level of the company, you have fewer chances to derail other productivity throughout the day. “If you can start on time with the first meeting of the day (and respect the end time) you set a culture where the importance of people’s time is highly valued,” writes Entrepreneur contributorCraig Cincotta.

 Being punctual also helps you to end on time, as long as you’ve been careful to avoid tangents. This is crucial, because once the time slot for the meeting is over, employees will start to mentally check out whether or not you’ve made it through the agenda. “Their mind isn’t on the meeting at the end, so it’s not productive,” Peter Handal, former CEO and chairman of Dale Carnegie Training, told U.S. News & World Report.

 

2. Have a concise agenda

 

You need an agenda if you want a productive meeting, so everyone knows what’s about to be discussed. But how you handle the agenda-setting will likely depend on team dynamics and what you think will work best for that particular atmosphere.

 Another tactic is to enter the meeting without a pre-set agenda, but have the meeting members develop one based on what’s most important to them. Kern, from The Table Group, wrote in an article for Inc. that the agenda does need to be tightly focused around the general goals for the meeting — this isn’t the time to put tangents on an agenda. But the results can be empowering for the people who attend the meetings. “The meeting scriptdoesn’t result from a circulated email and it’s not based solely on the meeting leaders’ strategic priorities, and that is important. This is a powerful change, because it means that team members are discussing things that are important to them,” Kern explains.

3. Take good notes

 

Nothing can be more frustrating than spending 30 minutes in a decent meeting, only to realize a day later that no one recorded the details of what was actually discussed. Alexandra Samuel, author of Work Smarter with Social Media, suggests using a collaborative tool like Google Docs. That way, when one person is talking and sharing ideas, another person can be recording what’s said. This is also a way to draw more people into the meeting, as they can share ideas and get them down on paper immediately. Applications like Evernote also allow for searchable functions and provides an easy way to keep track of archived meeting minutes, Samuel writes.

While you’re taking those notes, it’s wise to also keep track of who is taking responsibility for which tasks. Steve Jobs became famous for this, including a “directly responsible individual,” or DRI, next to every task or agenda item. That way, people can be working on a project but know exactly who is responsible for seeing it through to completion. It’s a quick way to streamline questions, follow-ups, and also who will likely update their superiors on progress that’s made.

4. Use technology as an asset

 

We’re now squarely in the digital age, so technology should begin to be used to our advantage in meetings, not ignored in favor of another Powerpoint presentation. If you’re conducting meetings remotely or have clients who aren’t coming in to your office, Samuel suggests using a screen-sharing app to quickly show drafts or brainstorm topics. Of the several platforms she’s used, Samuel recommends Join.me for quick and reliable sharing.

Also, have an extra screen like a spare iPad or other device ready to display reference material. That way, you won’t have to divert your main screen from taking notes or your prepared presentation, but everyone can still see multiple sets of information relevant to the conversation. If you’re on a conference call, Samuel suggests setting up a backchannel before the call in-house, so that you as a team can stay on the same page during the meeting.

In addition to these things, start basing decisions and conversations around data when possible, not personal preferences. Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo!, approaches design pitches from a scientific viewpoint whenever possible. Carmine Gallo wrote in a piece for Bloomberg Businessweek that Mayer discourages “I like” statements and instead looks for statements backed up by performance measures and metrics. Instead of “I like the way the screen looks,” Mayer expects statements like, “The experimentation on the site shows that his design performed 10% better.” Mayer was still working for Google when the Businessweek article was written, but it’s pretty safe to assume the same logic is happening in Yahoo!’s meetings.

5. Leave with action steps

 

If employees leave knowing where everyone is going to lunch but not what’s happening for your marketing strategy, your meeting has failed. Figure out who is responsible for heading up certain tasks, and come up with measurable ways to track progress. “The worst thing that can happen is nobody follows up and then you have another meeting to talk about what you already discussed,” Cincotta writes.

For the steps that will need to be carried out with other employees, establish a framework for how it will be explained to colleagues or direct reports. “It’s important that everyone is on the same page about what you will and what you won’t say outside the meeting. Not everything will be ready for prime time, and that’s OK, so long as everyone finds out information within the same time frame,” Kern at The Table Group writes.

One last word about wrapping up a meeting: don’t let people get away with stewing in the corner, just waiting to leave the meeting to tell everyone else about the bad brainstorm ideas. “Nothing is more deadly than silent disagreement that quickly results in a totally dysfunctional meeting after the meeting in which ‘real’ opinions are shared behind closed doors,” Kern explains. If you’re leading the meeting and believe someone strongly disagrees but isn’t speaking up, encourage them to do so or follow up with them immediately after. Disagreements are natural, but should be resolved before it feels like the entire meeting was undermined by a complaint afterward.
CheatSheet.com | October 27, 2015 |