Texting During Meetings: Corporate No No?
Conducting e-mail business during a meeting is a nasty habit that corporate America has readily embraced with open arms and exhausted thumbs. I admit that I check my Blackberry frequently during meetings. Especially the routine or monotone board meetings that just beg for a little distraction. Sometimes I arrive early to a meeting and, as I wait for it to begin, I may try squeeze in one or two emails. The first step is admitting there’s a problem, right? OK, I confess. I know I should conduct my email business outside of staff and board meetings, pre-proposal conferences and strategic planning sessions. I know that every time I, in earnest, check my Blackberry, hoping to find that darling little envelope icon, I am blatantly communicating to the meeting participants that the subject line is more important than the subject-at-hand. This may be the farthest thing from the truth but my actions are not supporting my intent.
The one thing that I don’t do, however, is text novellas once the meeting has begun. That infraction is reserved for the worst meeting malefactors. The noise is distracting to those seated nearby and it’s rude to those conducting the meeting. Who can focus on matters at hand when sandwiched in between two veteran texters tapping away a week’s worth of work? I can’t. You wouldn’t attend a meeting popping bubbles with your gum, would you? (please say no). We turn off our phone ringers when entering a meeting for a reason. The noise they create. Not only is it distracting, it’s also a little annoying (remember popping bubbles?). It’s extremely disconcerting to conduct a meeting or a conversation and find that the intended audience is not at all concerned with what you’re saying, but rather what emails have just arrived in their inbox. If consideration for those around you is not an ultimate concern, consider the message you are trying to convey (not text).
