Singletasking and the Lost Art of Effective Communication

I think that the myth of multitasking has been pretty well debunked by now, but it seems not everyone is willing to embrace this.  There seems to be an almost primal need to be doing more than 1 thing at once.  And technology feeds this need more and more each day.

It’s hard enough under any circumstances to facilitate meetings in such a way as to foster really effective team communication.  But it’s even harder when you don’t have the full attention of all the participants.  Laptops and smartphones make it easy and sometimes irresistible to check in on everything else rather than devoting your attention to the single task at hand.  The effectiveness of communications among the team members decreases by orders of magnitude as a result.

Now we have software and capabilities that allow us to hold virtual meetings.  No longer must you drag your laptop down the hall to a conference room so you can work on emails during that next meeting.  Now you can attend right from your desk, and you don’t even have to look like you’re paying attention.  This is not an effective way to exchange information and solve problems.

I’m no Luddite.  I love technology.  I’m an early adopter.  And I get that being a global company necessitates tools for communicating over long distances.  But when these tools take our focus away from the team, then they actually diminish our ability to communicate effectively.  I’m a firm believer in Toyota Way principle number 8, “Use only reliable, thoroughly tested technology that serves your people and processes.”

Of course the meetings themselves are largely to blame.  Often they are vague, unnecessary, unfocused, poorly lead, and include the wrong audience.  It’s hard to devote your full attention to a topic that you don’t find relevant.  So team leaders need to step up and take control of the situation.  Here are a few suggestions (feel free to post comments with your ideas as well):

1.       Go to gemba.  Whenever possible meetings should occur where the subject being discussed actually happens.

2.       Keep it short and relevant.  Meeting more often for shorter periods of time is often more effective and keeps information closer to real time.

3.       Stand up.  There’s just something about being in a seated position that seems to kill focus.  This will also help keep things short and to the point.

4.       Be prepared.  Have a clear, crisp agenda and set expectations with the team members as to their roles.

5.       Have the right people.  Limit attendance to only those with a need to be there.

6.       Be visual.  Use boards and hard copies rather than spreadsheets to display a message that everyone can see, touch, and understand.

Creating an environment that encourages singletasking will sharpen team communication and improve the speed and effectiveness with which problems are addressed.