Multi-tasking in Meetings

Dear Bonnie,

Some people constantly multitask in meetings, which disrupts other people’s attention and prevents important information from getting to the audience. Do you have any recommendations to get people to pay attention? 

Thanks,

Can We Focus on our Meetings?!

 

Dear Can We Focus,

A well-run meeting, focused on a relevant agenda, is the best approach to curb people’s multitasking.

1. Know what you’re trying to accomplish. Identify why you need a meeting and the desired results (approval, issue resolution, status).
2. Create an agenda with a list of topics and time estimate to discuss each one. That way you can be sure to cover every item. You can keep discussions on topic. Plus, if the discussion starts to go off track, you can stop the discussion and create an action item to handle the new item offline (or in another meeting).
3. Limit meeting attendees to who you need to accomplish the meeting goal. The more people in a meeting, the harder it is to get things done on time. 
4. Schedule the meeting for when it works for attendees and send the meeting invitation and materials ahead of time. That way, attendees have a chance to prepare. (They might not read beforehand, so be prepared for a quick review.) 
5. Start meetings on time, even if some attendees are missing. Don’t backtrack when people show up late. That just reinforces their rude behavior. (They can read the meeting notes to catch up on what they missed.) If a key decision-maker is missing, reschedule the meeting rather than sit and wait.
6. If possible, have someone facilitate the meeting to keep everyone focused.  The facilitator explains the purpose of the meeting, topics, attendees, and ground rules for interaction. The facilitator can coax quiet people to participate or wrangle the discussion back on topic.
7. Take good meeting notes (or use an AI tool to create them). Be sure to document decisions, action items, and who’s responsible for them. Distribute the notes to attendees and (up) anyone else who needs to know.

Establishing a standard of behavior in meetings promotes better outcomes. You get what you tolerate. Unless different standards are set, meetings won’t get any better.

Here are a couple of strategies for meeting behavior. Have everyone put their phones in a basket, so they won’t be distracted. To make sure everyone is paying attention, assign a task to each person during the meeting. If they can’t recite that to-do at the end of the meeting, assess a fine like buying coffee next time or make them wear a silly hat.

Effective meetings will help keep people from multitasking. You’ll get more done, and you might win some fans. Give yourself a head start. Create a checklist of things to do before you hold a meeting.

For more about effective meetings, check out Dave Crenshaw’s Leading Productive Meetings course.

 

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