CEOs across industries — from Airbnb to JPMorgan Chase — have identified key distractions in team meetings: phones and laptops, The Wall Street Journal reported Oct. 28.
“This has to stop,” JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon wrote of phone use during meetings in his annual letter to investors in April. “It’s disrespectful. It wastes time.”
Hospitals and health systems are not immune to the issue.
Brad Fixler, vice president of marketing at Aurora, Colo.-based UCHealth, told the Journal he declined to share the Wi-Fi password for a meeting room at an off-site in July. Team members were told they could take a call elsewhere if needed.
Instead of panicking, many seemed relieved to not be glued to a device. “The conversation was better,” Mr. Fixler said.
He also told the Journal he is considering a “lighthearted corporate equivalent of a ‘swear jar'” for phone use during meetings.
Healthcare executives have shared with Becker’s ways they have improved engagement during meetings in 2025, such as cutting redundancies. In response to feedback from leaders, Denver Health eliminated content overlap between leader huddles and management meetings, Chief Human Resources Officer Amy King said.
“With more than 400 leaders joining each session, we recognized the importance of making every minute matter,” she said. “By clarifying the purpose of each meeting, we reduced redundancy and enhanced engagement.”
