Fro  From Robyn Pearce

A very large international IT company asked for a course on 'How to run effective meetings'. It was the weirdest session I've ever run; a brilliant example of how not to run meetings. The trouble was, the CEO had a different work ethic to the rest of the company. She'd been sent to Australia from the States to do the job, and had no family in the country. Her work was her life and she expected her managers to behave in the same way.

The session was a bun fight! People came and went like yoyos, phones rang constantly, and although everyone had chosen to come, the activities of a number of the group were so (unintentionally) disruptive that it minimised the learning of the rest.

Half the people were late, several sent messages to say they didn't have time to come, and many insisted that they had to leave their mobiles on because they were not allowed to be out of communication range at any time. When questioned, the same applied to holidays and weekends. Their CEO's belief was that their job demanded 100% availability. Bluntly - that's rubbish, except in exceptional circumstances.

And there was more. Even though they'd scheduled the training weeks before, one fellow informed me, very embarrassed and apologetic, that he had to leave half-way through. He'd been ordered that morning to attend a last-minute meeting and no excuses were accepted.

Many of this company's problems could only be solved at a higher level, but there are a few things we can do when we find ourselves in such a situation. (These poor folk could have done at least the first two.)

Solutions:

1.      If at all possible, find a backup person to take your calls when in a meeting. It may be a PA. In a genuine crisis they know where to find you. Then, the meeting isn't being interrupted with the miscellany of calls many people field in a day.

2.      If there's no external resource to take your calls and it's absolutely critical to be contactable, turn the ringer off. The tiny sound the 'silent' phone makes will draw your eyes. If your key contacts are programmed into the memory you then have the option of choosing to leave the room. However, most calls will be able to go to the message bank.

3.      If you find yourself running a meeting where phones keep going, ask people why they need to be on. Depending on your seniority, either encourage or request they be turned off.

[Tip 87 from 'About Time - 120 Tips for Those with No Time', one of my most popular titles, and great for those who don't have time to read a book, but want the help.]

What does a ringing phone say about you (when it rings in a meeting)?

From my friend Kit Grant, 'Director of Comfort Zone Infiltration' and one of Canada's top speakers and a very humorous speaker.

'Loved your last article on phones, Robyn. One of the announcements I now make at the start of almost every session is the following:

"If your phone rings during the program, all it really does is tell everyone else in the room how bad you are at delegating."

This works very well for me.