Time to Set Technology Expectations – Friday Distraction
(Editor’s Note: Today’s post is brought to you by our friends at Kronos, the global leader in delivering workforce management solutions in the cloud. Congratulations to Kronos CEO Aron Ain for being awarded Glassdoor’s Highest Rated CEO recognition. We’ve had the pleasure of speaking with Aron on this blog. Enjoy the post!)
Today’s Time Well Spent from our friends at Kronos really cracks me up. I couldn’t resist sharing.
The sad truth is … this still happens.
I get it. Not everyone wants to read using their tablet. Their preference is to read from paper. They might find that highlighting and jotting notes in the margins works for them. Other people take that pile of paper and immediately toss it in the trash. They want to travel light and having the file on their laptop or tablet makes total sense.
It doesn’t even matter that the cartoon is pointing out the report is on automation. As business professionals, we can easily accommodate everyone by setting expectations.
“Here’s a copy of the report on HR automation we will be discussing tomorrow. In an effort to save paper, hardcopies will not be distributed. Please feel free to bring a copy of the report with you to the meeting.”
This way, the people who want paper will bring paper and the people who want tech will bring their device. Now, this means two things for the meeting organizer:
- The report must be distributed in a timely fashion. Participants need time to open the email, review the report, decide if they want to print it, etc. None of this “distributing the report two hours (or two minutes) before the meeting.”
- Technology cannot be discouraged in meetings. Participants should be held accountable for their actions. If they are using a device during the meeting, then it should be for an appropriate reason.
Technology is becoming a large part of our professional lives. I’m not anti-paper, in fact, I like paper. But for some things, reading on my iPad is perfectly fine. It can save me time and the nuisance of traveling with lots of papers. Oh, and let’s not forget, it reduces the chance of losing something.
The point is to give people the choice.
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