Meeting Etiquette

Community Manager — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 13:13:00 GMT

Across the pond, the new English Prime Minister has set tongues wagging with his decision to ban cabinet members from using mobile phones and BlackBerries in meetings. This tempest is in an English teapot but it does bear thinking about at home. I would be lying if I didn't say that at times, I would love to ban phones, blackberries, and laptops from meetings. Technology has clearly changed the way we work and live. But has it changed the rules of what is polite and acceptable in business meetings?

Maintaining Meeting Etiquette

According to Christine Pearson, a management professor at Thunderbird School of Global Management, Thunderbird School of Global Management technology and its omnipresence in the workplace is eroding civility. Pearson interviewed 9,000 U.S. workers and managers for her book The Cost of Bad Behavior and concluded that texting and emailing during meetings is a serious lapse of etiquette.

"No one likes to be snubbed, of course, but the offense can take on a new edge when the winner is a machine," observed Pearson in a recent New York Times article Sending a Message that You Don't Care.

Managers work hard to plan and execute successful meetings. Don't let a meeting be derailed by texting and cell phone interruptions. Establish a protocol for managing meeting technology etiquette.

Steps could include:

Remind everyone that face-to-face meeting time is valuable.
Impose a moratorium on devices during some meetings, but allow breaks for checking e-mail, texts and networking accounts.
Work with your staff to set guidelines about what is and isn't reasonable in your particular workplace.
Hold everyone accountable to the guidelines - including yourself.

One of the first rules for life we are taught as young children is 'mind your manners.' Keep this old truism firmly in mind when next tempted to check your e-mail or send a text during a meeting. Remember, that the message you could be sending is that what is on your e-mail or cell phone is more important than interacting with the person you are with.

Do you think meeting etiquette is being executed well in your workplace? Could your office stand to improve its meeting etiquette policies? Share your thoughts here and on the Beyond Folders Community's Facebook and Twitter pages.

by Candie Harris

Beyond Folders : technology, meetings

Meeting Etiquette