Only a heel uses a shoe phone in a group of people
How do you get smart?
by David Zinger
Maxwell Smart, in the old episodes of Get Smart, had a shoe phone. He often looked like a heel using his phone in public.
Now everyone has a portable communication device, from Blackberries and i-phones - people are connected to just about anyone except the people right in front of them. At times we appear to be heels oblivious to the souls around us.
My question: How do you handle the usage of phones and texting if people use them during meetings, training sessions, project planning times, etc?
- Do you ban them?
- Embrace them?
- Or throw a shoe at someone who is only half there?
My latest strategy is to let group members stay connected when they are in training sessions but asking them to leave the room when they text or talk on their phone. It is not because I am a phone fascist…I think they are great tools but everytime someone becomes a thumbody when they are with somebody I think it dissipates the energy, focus, and strength of the connections we are using to get our results.
For example, I taught a management course with a group that did not use cell phones, etc. for the entire two days and we finished our work about 2.5 hours earlier than normal!
Am I a living anachromism who should be text to death or is this something you struggle with as a manager?
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POSTED IN: management
5 opinions for Only a heel uses a shoe phone in a group of people
CK
Oct 2, 2008 at 5:42 am
Don Adams user the “Shoe Phone” as a gag because as a comic becuase as he was goofing off he was making a ‘phone ring’ sound and picking up everything around him saying “Hello?” - this includes bannanas, staplers, and anything that was around - the shoe recieved the most laughs in the group he was with.
I have to agree that the modern cell phone is more of an anoyance than anything! I see people leave their home and pick up their cell to talk! Just walk around the grocery store! It makes me wonder how anyone could live without their cell!
I just wonder where these very same people are going to do when they get a fax machine installed on their person!
Wes
Oct 2, 2008 at 6:16 am
I’m a Manager in a business technology company, so the use of any modern technology is a good thing as far as I’m concerned. But…I don’t allow the use of cell phones or laptops in my meetings. I ask for cell phones to be set to vibrate and if it’s important enough to take, then please step outside the conference room and be brief. As far as laptops and emailing, if one of my direct reports does this in a meeting, then I give adjusting feedback later.
I get extremely irritated at the meetings I have to attend. I drive 120 miles to an all day manager’s meeting. From the first minute, laptops are set up, email alerts are going off and other managers are responding to these emails throughout the day. Add to this the cell phones ringing and the managers taking and placing calls in the middle of the meeting. Inside my head, I’m screaming at the Vice President asking why he is allowing this kind of behavior. I’m convinced that without the constant interruptions and rudeness, these meetings could be cut down to four hours.
CK
Oct 2, 2008 at 9:01 am
Cell phone, blackberries, and even laptops have become teathers to the workplace. Being in technology myself, it is becoming a 24/7 concern that is interupting life (inclucing family life!). I know of college professors who love/hate them (PCs) in the classroom. Most professors that I know demand that everyone turn off their cell phones unless there is an valid reason and even then place them on vibrate.
A cell going off disrupts the meeting or class! It is also a matter of respect. What the person is saying whe their cell goes off in a meeting is that they don’t respect you enough to care!
Mike King
Oct 2, 2008 at 9:13 pm
I work in new technologies and regularly see the tethers my directs have to their phones. I still don’t have a cell phone and it keeps me MORE productive by NOT having one. I never get interupted, I can focus on my tasks and people can’t constantly distract me from my work. I don’t answer my desk phone either, I’m always busy at work and don’t need distractions until I’m ready to take the calls.
urgency is becoming the norm, but it can definitely be training OUT of people and it encourages them to deal with things themselves and make their own decisions if you are not always available. That is a good thing.
Cells are even in meetings, and shouldn’t be allowed. What’s worse for me is people who leave them on ringer and then walk away from their desks with their phones ringing on their desk. I have one suggest for those people. REMOVE AND HIDE THEIR PHONE BATTERY!
David Zinger
Oct 7, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Ah, heels, soles, souls, and shoe tongues going nonstop as we lace into relationship so distant while we step all over the people right in front of us. If the shoe fits, swear it.
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