I began my corporate career at Arthur Andersen some time ago. (Without telling you exactly how long ago that was, Arthur Andersen ceased operating in August 2002).  It was a great place to work, and my time there still ranks as one of my career highlights.

One of the behaviours the firm instilled in us was the culture and practice of Continuous Improvement. 

As part of this, after every client meeting, presentation, or project delivery, we offered our colleagues feedback and asked for it ourselves. “Closing the loop” this way became an automatic part of the process. It meant we needed to pay attention to each other, and we needed to think about how we were received ourselves. It also meant we were always tapping into different experiences and receiving diverse takes on our ideas.

Because giving and receiving feedback was common practice, we became experts in sharing our observations. We also no longer flinched about receiving a critique of how we performed, and we learned how to give it to other people without it affecting them. There was psychological safety in the practice: everyone knew it was coming, and it just became our normal.

THE NEW NORMAL (AND ITS SHORTCOMINGS)

My time at Arthur Andersen was pre-smartphones. (We had Nokias that offered ‘Snake’ as their only distraction). We had to interact with the people around us - and we had to do it face-to-face.

These days, with email, social media, messaging apps and more, interacting is no longer always the norm. It now seems perfectly normal just to jump straight back on our phones after any meeting.

But my advice is this, turn your wretched phone off 10 minutes before you start a meeting. This will help give you the focus you need to maintain and improve client relationships.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND DISTRACTION

Unlike other animals, humans spend a lot of time thinking about what isn’t going on around them.

A 2010 study by psychologists Matthew Killingsworth and Daniel T Gilbert showed that we spend around 47% of our waking hours thinking about something other than what we’re doing. They also found that this mind-wandering typically made us unhappy.

Instead, take the lead from a top-flight M&A partner in a prestigious ‘Big Law’ firm I know. He typically waits in the firm’s reception lounge to meet clients with his phone switched off.  This gets him away from the desk and office distractions so he can use the moment to think solely about the client he’s about to meet. (He doesn’t make the client wait in the reception room for his arrival)

His clients notice, and they love it. It doesn’t just mean he’s ready to go when they are. It also demonstrates how client-centric he is. His focus is entirely on them. 

If you choose to do the same, I guarantee it will leave the same good impression while sharpening your business development (BD) efforts.

KEEP THE PHONE OFF A BIT LONGER …

Once your meeting has finished, continue your focus by keeping the phone off for another 10 minutes. Don’t look at it when you’re getting in the lift, leaving the building, or shutting off the Zoom /Teams link.

When you keep your phone shut down, you’ll also shut down the noise and stay in the moment for a little while longer. You’ll give yourself the opportunity to gather your thoughts and reflect on what just happened.

Ask yourself where and why things went well (or poorly). Did anything surprise you?  How good were your questions? How good were other people's questions? Is there anything that went unsaid that should have been? Is there anything you left out or need to follow up on?

If you have a colleague with you, ask them for their observations on the meeting or your performance. (And ask them not to sugarcoat them.) Offer to provide your feedback or insights to them.

HOW TO GAUGE A MEETING’S VALUE

When you’re assessing how a meeting went or considering a colleague’s (or your own) performance), try to read the room. Take note of the micro-level interactions, such as how engaged people were in problem-solving and how they responded. Were they hesitant or attentive? Enthusiastic or bored?

One useful framework for this is the empathy map, which looks deeper than ‘what is said’ in a meeting to consider the broader context of what’s going on. It gets you to think of things like how people felt and what you imagine they’ll be doing after the meeting. 

That said, you don’t need to over-egg this. You’re not trying to create a meeting after a meeting. This is just a quick burst of focused attention before the next distraction.

Ideally, this becomes a habit - one that doesn’t take too much time but provides genuine benefits to you and your firm.

PS - If you’ve not done this before, don’t surprise your colleagues with feedback.  Let them know what you’re trying to do and get permission to share observations before the meeting starts.

WANT MORE?

If you’d really like to know how to give your BD efforts a boost, give me a call or get a 45-minute business development consultation through BD45.

REFERENCES & FURTHER READING

Edmondson A & Besieux T (2021); Reflections: Voice and Silence in Workplace Conversations. Journal of Change Management, 21:3, 269-286

Gray, D (2017) on Empathy Maps

Killingsworth M A & Gilbert D T (2010) A Wandering Mind is an Unhappy Mind , Science

Porter J (2017) Why You Should Make Time for Self-Reflection Even if You Hate Doing It, Harvard Business Review

Sue-Ella is the Principal of Prodonovich Advisory, a business dedicated to helping professional services practices sharpen their business development practices.

She works with professional services firms that focus on positive client relationships, and with individuals who want personal, intelligent support.

©Prodonovich Advisory. This article was written by a human. Please respect our copyright and the effort taken to produce the original material in this article. This article, and any portion of it, may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author.