Some time back, Chunka observed a group of senior managers listen to presentations preceding one he was about to make and was struck by the silence. There were no more than a few perfunctory questions. The 50 or so line managers occasionally glanced up when a new slide was shown but were generally disengaged and not really making much eye contact with presenters. Chunka realized that this behavior was not rudeness; it was normal protocol. Welcome to the multitasking world.

The managers were all armed to the teeth with numerous communication devices. Group protocol kept mobile phones in vibrate mode, but each person in the room was actively communicating with mmany others via email, instant messaging, text-messaging and so on. Many people were having back-channel conversations about the meeting they were attending, but, easured in terms of open dialog, the group process was broken.

As he set up for his own presentation in the day-long session addressing the future of the organization, Chunka saw that the wireless network for the room was plugged into the same power strip as that provided for his computer. With the senior-most client’s approval and the onsite technical support person warned (though he turned ashen), Chunka flipped off the power strip a few minutes into his presentation. He kept a straight face as the various participants checked their cords, glanced at others’ screens and cast deadly stares at the tech support person. Yet, as hoped, they slowly drifted out of their multi-tasking fog and started engaging in the conversation. Eventually, the result was one of the most spirited conversations on the future of the organization that anyone could remember.

This is not to say, of course, that personal information devices can’t be productively used in group settings. But, in general, we favor the Bill Gross model.  Gross is a founder and co-chief investment officer of PIMCO, the giant bond fund manager.  (PIMCO had $756B in assets under management as of 3/31/2009.)  As reported in a recent NY Times article, Gross convenes a daily lunchtime meeting of his staff to review their investments.   “The blinds are drawn to keep out the sunshine, and he forbids any fiddling with BlackBerries or cellphones. He wants everyone disconnected from the outside world and focused on what matters most to him: mining riches for his clients at Pimco.”

“I assembled this team because I am a strong believer in strong personalities and strong opinions,” he said.  ”I think that’s how the best decisions are made. One of the dangers in a White House, based on my reading of history, is that you get wrapped up in groupthink, and everybody agrees with everything, and there’s no discussion, and there are no dissenting views. So I am going to be welcoming a vigorous debate inside the White House.”

Poor decision-making processes in previous administrations are well-documented in classic works like Irving Janis’ “Groupthink” and “Thinking in Time,” by Richard Neustadt and Ernest May.  More recently, even Republican commentators such as David Brooks have criticized President George W. Bush for creating an environment in which groupthink prevailed.

Inviting discussion and contention does not need to produce paralysis, as Obama made clear:

“But understand, I will be setting policy as president. I will be responsible for the vision that this team carries out, and I will expect them to implement that vision once decisions are made.”

We hope corporate CEOs are taking notes.  Here’s the link to the full AP article.