What are your ground rules regarding laptops, cell phones, and operational interruptions during our session days, and how do you enforce them?

My room runs on one foundational rule: be here, fully present, or do not bother showing up. An offsite session day costs your business significant capital in lost operational time and advisory fees. If your team spends that time glancing at email notifications or answering Slack pings, you are lighting that investment on fire.

At the start of every session, all laptops are closed and cell phones are put on silent and placed face down or in bags. The only exception is the designated scribe who types notes directly into your system, or an executive who needs to quickly pull a specific financial number to resolve an active debate.

We schedule deliberate ten-minute breaks every ninety to one hundred and twenty minutes, along with a full lunch break. During those windows, you can check messages, respond to urgent operational questions, and manage personal business. When the door closes and the session resumes, the outside world ceases to exist.

If someone violates this discipline by checking messages during active discussion, I call it out immediately. Multitasking destroys high-level strategic thinking and shields people from tough operational friction. We also enforce the Vegas Rule: everything debated in the room stays in the room, creating an environment where leaders can be completely honest without fear of casual leaks.

Category: Working With Tyler