The Mining Man

How to Remove them from Your Meetings

In Part 1 of this series, we discussed the reasons why laptops should not be permitted to be used in meetings, some of the reasons people may give for wanting to use them, and some possible problems with the meeting itself that may be driving the behaviour.  In Part 2 today we are going to look at how to remove laptops from you meetings.

Firstly an important note - these tips are designed for you to use in meetings which you are in charge of - where you are the meeting owner or manager, and you get to set the rules.  It is far more difficult to get laptops removed from a meeting in which you are only a participant.  But lead by example within your organization - get laptops out of your meetings, and when people see how much more efficient they are they will want to follow your lead. 

If it really does frustrate you so much when you are a participant in someone else's meeting, I'd suggest try to get the meeting group to agree to review the meeting in general terms on the basis of continuous improvement.  Have a session to discuss what works well and what doesn't.  Then bring up not the laptops themselves, but the resultant behavior that the laptops cause - having to repeat things and recap, people disengaged, people not listening -and let the group discussion lead towards a trial of removing laptops.

1. Set Ground Rules

A fundamental of six sigma methods and many other company procedures is to establish a list of ground rules for meeting behavior and control. 

If you already have a list of ground rules for your meeting, but they don't include "No Laptops", then it's time to schedule a review session in the name of continuous improvement, and look at the rules again. 

Make a time in your next meeting to discuss what works well and what doesn't with the meeting.  Let any other issues with the meeting be discussed to actually make improvements, and then ensure that the unproductive behaviors that are being caused by the use of laptops are also brought up.  Comment on the behaviors, and let someone else in the group (hopefully) suggest that a solution to the problems is to stop having laptops in the meeting. 

Immediately agree, and add this to the ground rules list.  For those people that push-back, explain that you would like to trial the idea for a while, and also that you will meet with them outside the meeting to discuss further.

If you don't already have a list of ground rules for your meeting, now is the perfect time to create them using the same process as above:

• Designate a time to do it
• Brainstorm ideas
• Agree to a list of rules
• If any are contentious, agree to discuss them later but have a trial to see how it goes.

2. Meet with Individuals

There will undoubtedly be some meeting participants who do not agree with the new "no laptops" rule.  The best way to approach them is to meet one-on-one with them outside the meeting.  The key things to cover are:

• Review the reasons why laptops are disruptive from Part 1 of this article. 
• Say: "I think it's disruptive to me and to others.  I think it's inappropriate, and I do believe we will be better off without them in the long run".
• Explain that your intention is to make your meeting shorter and more effective - no one can argue with that.
• Assure them you are also looking at the meeting itself and how it can be made shorter, more engaging, and more relevant to everyone there.  Ask for their input on whether they think they should be attending, and what improvements could be made.
• Explain how although they may consider themselves to be more productive, the meeting is about the whole team, not individuals.  And the effectiveness of the meeting is decreased when people are disengaged.
• Mention that although they may be doing something productive, other people in the meeting usually assume they are just checking email or something else with little value.
• If necessary, talk about running the "no laptops" rule as a trial.  If the meeting gets more effective, we'll stick with it.  If it doesn't we can always change the ground rules.
• And finally, our fall back is - "I can appreciate why you find it more productive, but sometimes in my role I get to be the boss and make some decisions that everyone may not like, but are in our long term interests.  This is going to be one of those times."

If you intend to introduce the "no laptops" rule and you know some certain people will push back, meet with them before the group meeting where you introduce the idea.  Listen and respond to their concerns, and run through the points above.

3. Give Specific Feedback

Maybe you just want to target a couple of individuals, give them feedback, ask them to change their behavior, and that will be enough without creating a set of ground rules.

In this case again it is very important to meet with them outside the meeting, one-on-one.  People generally do not react well to receiving improvement feedback in front of their peers.  This is particularly important if you have allowed laptops up until now and (in their eyes) have suddenly changed your stance.

The key to giving the feedback is to focus on the behaviors that the person does during the meeting that are not appropriate or productive.  This will probably require you to observe them during the next meeting, mentally record specific instances, and then discuss these after the meeting.

For example:  "Peter, can I give you some feedback?  Twice in the meeting today we had to repeat a question someone asked you, and once you had lost the context all together and we had to do a recap for you.  When this happens it frustrates others and slows the meeting down.  I think it is related to you dividing your attention between the meeting and your laptop.  I'd like you to consider not bringing your laptops to meetings any more".

The conversations can then (if necessary) cover the points in the previous section.

It may help to deliberately ask a question to the laptop user after something has been said which it is quite clear they weren't paying attention to.  "Peter - what do you think about that?" will suffice.

4. Check the "Notes"

Finally (and this can only work if you are the manager of the people in the meeting) when your team member says they use their laptop to take meeting notes - check.  It is not unreasonable for you, as their boss, to request to see the notes they say they have been taking during the meeting.  I think we all know what you will find... not much.  Then go back to points 2 or 3 above to discuss with them why you don't want laptops in meetings.

Good luck with your meetings, and with getting those frustrating laptops out of there!!  Signup in the box on the right to get Mining Man's articles sent straight to your inbox, including our upcoming Meeting Essentials Series.

Please share your thoughts about laptops in meetings in the comments section below!