Keeping Your Employees off Their Electronics During Meetings
Meetings are boring; there I said it. Unfortunately, they often take time out of your already busy day and sometimes provide you with very little information. One of the reasons meetings are often less than helpful is that many of the participants are busy on their phones or computers. What if I were to tell you that there are some easy ways to help keep your employees off their electronic devices and engaged in your next meeting? Below are our top tips to do just that.
Make sure your meetings are relevant and informative.
In other words, address the root cause of your employees distracting themselves: boredom. Invite employees to meetings only relevant to them, and be sure to stay on topic to provide only the essential information.
Establish a no-electronics policy before the meeting.
Identify all electronics that are the culprits of distraction (laptops, cellphones, tablets, etc.) and explain the reasons behind your decision. This can go out with meeting invites or in a separate all-company email. Springing the new policy on your employees at the beginning of your meeting is not ideal; they may have planned to complete certain tasks during the meeting, which will distract them even if they aren’t actively working on them.
Do not directly call out employees breaking the rules.
This is a recipe for humiliation and resentment. You can remind employees at the beginning of the meeting and address individual cases of rule breaking in a one-on-one setting after the meeting; under no circumstances should you yell at them in front of everyone.
Clearly state the meeting’s start, finish and break schedule, and stick to it.
If you want your employees to respect your time, you need to respect theirs. If everyone is focused, it should be easier to stay on task with your meeting. When the meeting is over, it’s time to end so your employees can get back to work.
How do you keep employees focused during meetings? Share in the comments below.