Available distractions in facilitation and training environments are on the rise with the ubiquitous use of smartphones these days. I consistently hear challenges leaders have getting their participants to focus on the meeting versus being distracted by their laptops, cell phones, blackberries, and other culprits of multitasking.
My thinking on this problem was expanded recently when I came across an article by Mary Boone, President of Boone Associates called ROM: Return on Meetings. One of the points Mary cites in her article is ” The Blackberry Test.” Here’s how she describes it.
Participants in all sizes of meetings are often so wrapped up in what’s going on outside the meeting that it’s hard to engage them, even with the best performers or the most polished speakers. And a meeting can’t possibly be strategic unless people are engaged. The bottom line is, if you can’t pass the “Blackberry Test,” you aren’t getting good ROM (Return on Meetings). What’s the Blackberry Test? If more than 5% of your audience are scrolling their Blackberries (or smartphones) during the meeting, you’ve failed.
The next time you’re tempted to say “Turn off your Blackberries and cellphones!” ask yourself: “Have we done all we can to make sure that this meeting is highly strategic, interactive, and directly relevant to participants?” Take the challenge to make the meetings at your organization more engaging and interactive. If you step up to the plate, you and the business leaders you serve will experience true ROM.
Mary’s comments helped me change my perspective. The increasing number of distractions in our lives certainly do make it tougher to engage people. But is that such a bad thing? While these “distractions” compete with that increasingly scarce commodity…our attention, they also have the potential of making us more productive.
The days when a mediocre lecturer could captivate a 20th century audience for hours are gone. Today, those seeking to attract and hold the attention of their audiences must be more compelling than the distractions. So in a way, participant distractions can make us better…Facilitators, Trainers, Speakers, and Presenters…if we let them. How? Let’s take a stab at that.
APPLICATION
Do I still have your attention? You see, we can just tell it like it is anymore. We’ve got to tell it with FEELING! Try these ideas on to turn your thinking on the blackberry dilemma.
The problem isn’t them, it’s you. I know, I don’t like the sound of that either, but it’s largely true. If we’re not keeping our group’s attention, we’ve got to quit thinking that this is a problem with “them.” We’ve got to own it as ours. If we’re not commanding the attention and engagement of our group, we’ve got to do something differently.
The great quickening. Did you know that “quickening” is defined as the first time you feel your baby move–a long anticipated event in every pregnancy? I had no idea that’s what was coming when I wrote this tagline a moment ago. It just “felt” like the right word and I thought, “What the hell, go look it up on Google and see what comes out.”
So, you’ve got to feel “your baby” move when you’re leading your groups. While this may be a metaphorical “stretch,” it’s that kind of enthusiasm you’ve got to be feeling for your audience to, well, frankly, give a damn! If what you’re doing doesn’t summon your own energy, it won’t draw others in. Go back to drawing board or step it up a notch.
Get on with it! If there’s one thing people hate more than meetings, it’s s..l..o…w meetings. Don’t stretch your meeting to fit into the token hour or two allocated for it. Get it moving and keep it moving at a crisp pace. Keep people on target, and don’t waste time. Get it done so that people can get what they need and get back to business.
Name the elephant. If people are simply so distracted by other work that they can’t offer enough attention to keep the meeting afloat, either cancel it or shift the focus to “focus” issue. Find out what if anything people need to get themselves fully engaged in the room. There’s no better focus for a training or meeting than the very immediate impediments people are having to working in the present, right here, and right now with their peers.
ACTION
Has this article changed your mind about the blackberry problem? I’d love to hear from you. Just add your comments below.
Steve, I remember when the phenom of smartphones and BBs on the table began, followed quickly by laptops open on the table – sometimes to take notes but sometimes to read emails, do other work and surf. At first I was annoyed and felt it was rude, but I came to the realization that as a trainer I don’t believe in “captive audiences”. I also teach adults not children. Even in mandatory training I prefer to work hard so all participants gain value. I like your idea of thinking ahead about checking if the material and pace will keep people from distractions. There is integrity in that. There will always be the one or two rude multi-taskers – but that’s about them, and is a habit or addiction that likely impacts their lives in many other negative ways.
I appreciate, enjoy and benefit from your style of expression of ideas in every newsletter Steve. It has always grabbed my attention, respectfully. I usually read it just before shutting computer off as there is always a phrase or concept to carry with me & start to apply in my interactions with others, immediately. I comment this time, because I was excited by something extra to an enthusiastic, faster pace in this one! I totally agree too. Growth adapts, adopts & goes forward in motion. If what I’m saying is not of value to those I’m talking with, I want to respect myself & my “listening audience’s” place in the moment & I don’t keep talking; I switch pace, add a question. Checking in is like harmonizing in a jam session – it needs to be incessant for constant good vibes together.
Hmmmm … I once witnessed a facilitator who got ahead of the Blackberry distrations by sending to his/her meeting participants an e-mail thru their Blackberries. This message was prepared before the meeting and ready for release as soon as the facilitator “caught” the multi-tasker working outside the group. The distracted wanderer quickly get the message that they had been caught and this alone returned their focus to the group task at hand.
After thinking about the genius of this technique, I started to apply a little mental aikido to my own facilitated sessions. Sometimes I’d prepare an e-mail and send it to the ‘disserter’ and other times I’d re-direct the energy of those multi-tasking by designating that they become the group’s reference librarians who would then accept all tasks that required a question be GOOGLED or looked up on wiki-pedia.
Yes, there’s also the executive or subject matter expert in your meeting who brings other tasks with them. So long as we have these folks engaged in group work when it’s important and we allow them to ‘wander with a purpose’, are we not facilitating the efforts of the entire team or work group?
Lastly, what of the expectant father who needs to have a connection with the mother who is experiencing true quickenings? The peace of mind the father may have by being allowed to keep their Blackberry “set on stun” or in the vibrate mode may very well enhance this person’s contributions to the group’s efforts.
Thanks again for a superb discussion / blog post. JL
HI Steve. I find this a particular problem in certain countries and cultures.Sales people find it most difficult to switch off. My strategy has been to tell them to switch to silent and take the call outside the room. It works most of the time so at least they are not distracting people.
You gave some good tips, especially about asking “what am I doing or not doing that’s leading to the behaviour”. So an intervention that makes me think of is to ask the group, “I see people are using their Blackberries, get in to teams of three and think of one thing I or the group can do to gain the full attention of all?” Suggesting they think of something the group might do shares the burden and the answer might surprise!
Finally, if they are looking at their Blackberry, it is evidence that we have lost them. At least we know now….