Cell Phone 101: The Cell Phone in the Office

“My mind is constantly going. For me to completely relax, I gotta get rid of my cell phone.”

-Kenny Chesney

Ok. We have all dealt with it. That person who’s cell phone (that phone is an iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, or Blackberry) is always attached to their hands. That persons whose phone rings during meetings. That person who will take a cell phone call in the middle of a conversation with you (phone offender).  That person who checks mails on their phone and response at 2am. Yea… you know who I am talking about… We ALL know someone…

Phones and Meetings:

I previously discussed cell phones at meetings in previous blog (July 2, 2013), you have 3 options for phones at meetings.

1.      Completely silence the phone

2.      Phone on vibrate and in your pocket (not sitting on table because vibrations are just as loud on a hard surface as a phone ringing)

3.      Don’t bring the phone to the meeting

Please use 1 of the options; this really has to do with respect for the meeting. You want to be engaged and attentive; you do not want to come across that there are other places you would like to be (even if you know that is true…).

 

The cell phone offender:

Unless you have an emergency, this is the absolute rudest thing a person can do.  When you are having a conversation with someone, you should never pull out the cell phone and answer another phone call, or text, or email. Our brains do not allow us to effectively perceive life in a multitasking way.

An example of this is when you are having a career development conversation with your supervisor and they pull out their phone and send an email in the middle of your sentence. What do these actions say to you? They tell you that the person 1 was not really listening to you and that they really do not care 100% what you have to say. 

The person you are talking to should be the most important conversation; you need to make a person feel engaged. There is nothing more disengaging than this rude action. We all have situations and instances that require us to divert our attention; just excuse yourself and explain the situation in an appropriate means.

 

Responding to emails at 2am:

Foremost, who is up at that time of day/night checking emails and coherent enough to respond to them? Unless you are in a different time zone, you should really avoid this. People do see the times that emails are sent, and anything after 11 pm (and that’s pushing it), can seem ridiculous. Now where is why… What if the person receiving the email is a sleep? What is the person receiving the email has a family or a small child that could be woken up by the sound?

If you have a stroke of genius in the middle of the night (and I get them at about 2-3am in the morning-my brain is the most clear then)-note it and go back to sleep; then come back to it in the morning. Your body needs to shut down at some point in time to be productive.

I once had a manager that would send and respond to emails at obscene times of day. Literally all day, I seriously wondered when the man even slept because he was always on email.  It was borderline uncomfortable how much involvement he had in this emails that late at night. When do you spend time with your family? When do you sleep? Do you honestly think I am going to get out of bed and respond to you?!? The later had a massive stroke (he is alive today) but for your mental and physical health. SHUT IT DOWN ladies and gentlemen.

 

Be a part of a team. Lead with integrity. Remain committed to your core values.

 

Sincerely,

The Young & Professional Gal