You’re doing WHAT? Distractions in virtual meetings

If you’re reading this Tuesday Tip while you are on a conference call (or worse… even in the restroom) you’re not alone. A recent poll shows that many employees do just about anything rather than listen intently to their co-workers from a remote location.

Who says – Intercall does. Intercall is the world’s largest conference call company — it’s used by 85% of Fortune 100 firms and they recently did some extensive polling of what people are REALLY doing on calls. Percentage reflects the number of people who have said they have done these things during a virtual conference call:

• Other work; including sending emails 65%

• Eating or making food 63%

• Going to the restroom 55%

• Texting 47%

• Checking Social Media 44%

• Playing video games 25%

• Online shopping 21%

• Exercising 9%

• Taking other calls 6%

Source: Intercall

Also interesting is that 40% of respondents said they’ve dropped off a call without announcing they’ve done so in order to pretend they stayed on and 27% reported having fallen asleep on at least one occasion.

Virtual participants are vulnerable to all kinds of distractions. Not all are going to be as obvious to you as hearing a microwave oven in use; some are more subtle such as the clicking sounds of a keyboard in the background.

A couple of weeks ago, our tip focused on some of the characteristics of effective meetings. With “Pencil and Paper” in the title, it discussed the importance of limiting the distractions that technology can introduce and thereby take a toll on the effectiveness of a meeting.

While limiting technology is most easily accomplished when everyone is attending the meeting, live and in person, the reality of today’s business operating environment is that many meetings must be conducted virtually; therefore requiring technology at the very core of the meeting.

It’s clear that having virtual attendees in a meeting is more work and requires even more focus from both the facilitator and the attendees.

If you are the facilitator, it will be important for you to proactively check the level of engagement of the virtual attendees and work to gain everyone’s contributions. Although imapMyTeam cannot predict who might go to the restroom during a call it can provide you some valuable meeting insights.

The “Manage Meetings” report in imapMyTeam is designed to assist you in leading more effective, “engaging” meetings and will help you easily gain the focus and unique insights you need to make even virtual meetings a success

90 Days of Different

The upcoming Memorial Day weekend ushers in summer. Summer brings long days filled with activities; a break from school for kids and most of all-summer vacations with family and friends. Summer means fun.

Among all the summer fun the stark reality is that business does not take a vacation. Deadlines don’t change, customer expectations don’t change.

As a result, summer also brings special scheduling challenges. Vacations mean people are away- so someone needs to cover for you while you are gone just as you need to cover for others too.  For the next 90 days there is a good chance that your team will not fully be intact – that is very different than at any other time of the year. Enjoying time off for one of us means juggling work to cover for one another. There remains pressure to perform.

You might be one of those people who will try to stay on top of things by working on your vacation. While your program or business team may require some level of engagement while away, it’s important not to short-change your family or the recuperative process. It is not fair to you; it is not fair to your family. It may be bad for your health. Vacations should not be stressful. Vacations are meant to be restorative.

Put imapMyTeam.com to work for you this summer in many ways:

Start by running your ‘Re-Energize’ report before you go away on vacation or take that long, extended weekend. It is personalized to what energizes and rejuvenates you. Take advantage of the tips.

When back from vacation-or after covering for others for several weeks- watch for signs of stress in your team-mates as well as yourself and use the ‘Succeed Under Pressure’ report to understand and then contend with the type of pressures we may be feeling when we are stretched thin. There are tips to help you and your colleagues stay on track.

There is a cure for the ‘summertime blues’ it is just a login away, right at your fingertips at imapMyTeam.

Pencil and Paper Meetings

Peter Drucker once said “one either meets or one works. One cannot do both at the same time.”

As is true with all of you Tuesday Tip readers, I’m in a lot of meetings. I was thinking about the time commitment to prepare and run a meeting and I have recently seen some scary statistics about what people are doing (or not doing) in meetings.

My number one suggestion for making meetings more efficient would be to ban electronic devices of any kind. If you are as old as me you remember when people came to meetings just with a pad and pencil – that didn’t necessarily mean everyone was intently focused on the meeting, but they did not have external distractions of looking at a smartphone every 30 seconds.

The shear focus of everyone discussing/interacting and deciding what to do without the urge (or is it addiction) to read/send texts/emails etc. will speed up meetings in and of itself.

Another suggestion is one I learned a long time ago – do not reward tardiness by reviewing what has happened for those that are late. It is inconsiderate to those that make it on time. People that are on time are creating contractual trust with the group or team by doing what they said they would; be on time. In line with this suggestion it is also good to end on time. You have a better chance of it when you ban the electronic devices and stop wasting time by reviewing things for the tardy.

If you participate in any regularly scheduled standing meeting make sure the purpose has not drifted from being laser focused on point to something other than the prime purpose or objective. Also make sure that the right people are in the room so you haven’t fallen prey to participant creep.

To be you’re most effective in a meeting, you should periodically review your Manage The Meeting report in imapMyTeam®.

People will never complain about a well run meeting and when you make that your goal you will also go a long way to having enthusiastic participants.

Making the Most of the Age of Opportunity

In his book titled “Managing Yourself” Peter Drucker observes that “we are living in an age of unprecedented opportunity; if you have ambition and smarts you can rise you can rise to the top of your chosen profession, regardless of where you started out.”  Drucker is also quick to make the point “with opportunity comes responsibility.”

In today’s business climate, companies may give their people some idea about possible career paths, but the responsibility to prepare and pursue opportunities rests solely with the individual. In other words, how successful you are is largely up to you.

 

Fortunately there is a simple formula you can follow and reference from time to time to make sure you are on the right path.  The steps are:

1.       Self-Awareness

2.       Manage Yourself

3.       Manage Relationships

4.       Success

The first step on the path is self-awareness. Before you can really understand how to manage yourself effectively, you have to have a realistic picture of yourself.  Considering what your usual behaviors and approaches really look like and accepting even the best of those approaches will not always be effective.

Armed with ability to be regularly self-aware, you are better prepared to know how to take the second step on the path. Managing yourself in the best interests of not only your daily duties and tasks, but also importantly your relationships.

The third step in the path of managing relationships naturally falls into place as a result of thoughtfully managing yourself. Relationships will improve and the ground work for trust is laid with a thoughtful approach.

As we stated earlier, the responsibility to prepare and pursue opportunities is up to you.  However, you have a partner that is available to you on demand, 24/7. The imapMyTeam reports are specifically designed to give you quick, powerful insights that will enable you to build your self-awareness, manage yourself and your relationships. This is the pathway to success.

 

Commit today to using imapMyTeam on a regular basis and make the most of the “age of opportunity” by “managing yourself” more effectively and building great relationships with others.