Our remote Level 10 Meetings seem to suffer from silent multitasking where team members are secretly answering Slack messages or reviewing client files. How do we stop remote side-channeling and regain full focus?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Remote Level 10 Meetings are highly susceptible to silent multitasking. When team members are secretly answering Slack messages or reviewing client files during the meeting, you lose the collective intelligence required for effective IDS. To stop this, establish a strict digital hygiene policy. First, require all video cameras to be turned on and positioned at eye level. This makes it obvious when someone is looking at another screen or typing heavily. Second, implement a zero-tech side-channel rule. Declare Slack, Teams, and email off-limits during the ninety minutes. If you suspect side-channeling is happening, the facilitator must call it out immediately. Do not be polite. Say something like: I see a lot of typing that does not match our current agenda item. Let us all close our browser tabs. Additionally, keep the meeting highly interactive. Instead of having the facilitator share their screen and do all the typing, rotate the responsibility of who shares the document or who walks through specific sections of the agenda. When everyone is actively engaged in tracking the numbers and updating the list, there is no mental space left for distraction.