My meeting planning and hospitality friends seemingly are in perpetual motion, moving quickly from one task to another. Clipboard in one hand and PDA in the other, they glide through hallways … meeting and greeting, dispensing instructions, offering feedback on the fly, and even realigning a haphazardly strewn pile of napkins on the break station.

They wear their multitasking badge with great satisfaction and honor, proud of their ability to dissect and compartmentalize each task so that it consumes no more attention and effort than is necessary. Their ever-present efficiency is both inspiring and addictive.

And I want them to stop it. Now.
Until cloning is perfected, we simply have to acknowledge that each of us has only 100 percent attention and energy to divide. There is no "giving 120 percent," a wince-inducing phrase well-intentioned leaders use all too frequently. Should we really find so much joy in not paying 100 percent attention to any one thing, to any one person, at any one moment? Are we really modeling desirable behavior when we try to execute flawlessly while fragmenting our focus? We long ago confused busy-ness with business.

And I want us to stop it. Now.
A few years ago, I heard conference speaker say that the greatest act of leadership courage was to make a team slow down, reflect on what was happening around them, and then evaluate what their next steps should be. I distinctly remember rolling my eyes that an everyday best practice was somehow being reframed as risky or courageous. Pass the humble pie; I was clearly wrong. Our fast-paced, always connected world, has enticed us into an unsustainable pattern of behavior of moving on to the future before bringing adequate closure to the present. In a ridiculous example of self-fulfilling prophecy, we exalt in our ability to respond ever faster to e-mail and IMs, only creating the need to … yep, you guessed it … be even more responsive to others' demands on our attention.

And we simply have to stop it. Now.
High-tech or high-touch is not an either/or decision. It's an "and" decision, one in which we determine the appropriate mix of both options. Doing so requires that we make deliberate decisions about where we will have a presence and then to be truly present when we're there.

"Being present" may sound a bit too warm and fuzzy, but the value of this choice is simple: Just showing up isn't enough. If we are physically present … on a conference call, for a meeting, at a conference … then let's show up with a level of attention and focus that ensures that we (and those around us) get the very best from being there. And if we can't truly be present, our absence might be more valuable than being a distracting presence, twiddling our thumbs under the table answering messages on our BlackBerry throughout the discussion.

Being fully present whenever we interact with others may require that we more selectively choose where to have a presence. Just because we are invited to attend or participate, doesn't mean we need to RSVP yes. In fact, because they are so sought after, the most gifted and networked individuals more regularly need to politely decline such invitations if they hope to have a manageable calendar and be an effective contributor.

And today, having a presence means we have to think about what that means in the online space as well - adding pages on a social networking site, creating your own blog, or contributing your comments to others' blogs. Having no presence in the virtual world might one day mean that for some individuals, you have no presence at all.

Leading Learning Take Away

1. Take less pride in multitasking - fragmenting your focus - and more pride in modeling attention and engagement in the moment.

2. Don't say yes without ensuring that you can be fully present at a gathering.

3 Begin to establish an online presence, migrating some of your interactions and efforts at a comfortable pace.

Jeffrey Cufaude is a former higher education administrator, meeting planner, and association executive. He currently writes, speaks, and facilitates on a variety of individual and organizational leadership issues. Learn more about his work at www.ideaarchitects.org. To submit topic ideas and feedback on the Leading Learning column, e-mail jeffrey@idea architects.org.
Leading Learning is sponsored by Freeman, www.freemanco.com.