How 30+ Salespeople Responded to Phone Jail for Two Days

You might be wondering: WTF is phone jail? Or phone gaol as Peter Linas, EVP of Corporate Development at Bullhorn, aptly points out in this tweet in respect of our UK colleagues.

In the most literal sense, phone jail is a hanging organizer (see above left) ordered from Amazon Prime at the last minute by my dear colleague Sarah. However, defining what phone jail represented and setting expectations started weeks earlier as our Global Enterprise sales team at Bullhorn prepared to come together in London for our annual sales kickoff meeting. With colleagues spread across North America, UK&I, mainland Europe and APAC heads down servicing the largest staffing and recruiting firms in the world on a daily basis, it’s rare that we get the opportunity to learn from each other live in one location. And we wanted to make the most of it.

Checking phones at the door was part of our team’s commitment to focusing for the entirety of the meeting and truly listening and learning from each other without the natural distraction caused by WhatsApp messages or emails (or Slack, or text, or voicemail, or Gchat, or any other messaging platform invading our minds at every moment). Practically, we knew we also needed to move business forward during this offsite so we built plenty of breaks into the agenda. We even got a surprise break via a fire alarm at the hotel that required a full evacuation. Lucky for us, it came with a view of Tower Bridge and “survival blankets” to stay warm as the image above shows. Personally, it was hard not to laugh at the Seinfeld-style moment when the hotel assured us it was a real fire drill, yet 80% of the group still lined up to get their phone out of jail before evacuating. I digress…

So, how did 30+ salespeople respond to phone jail for two days? Amazing. Better than expected. After the initial twitching and shock wore off, it only took a couple sessions of shaming people at the door until everyone voluntarily gave up their phones when entering the meeting room. With no option but to listen and participate during sessions, the kickoff was more collaborative and focused than most I have been a part of throughout my career, especially considering the audience: experienced salespeople with limited attention spans!

With a group commitment to being present, we could get down to business quickly and accomplish a significant amount in a short time period. Everyone on the team was involved and presented, along with participating in interactive sessions led by executives across the organization. It was exciting to discuss Bullhorn’s future as a group as we continue to enhance our middle office and Enterprise service offerings via recent acquisitions of industry leaders like PeopleNet and Connexys. 

Reflecting now on our phone-free sales kickoff and reviewing the many pages of notes I took, a few quotes stood out to me and convey the energy and sentiment of the meetings. 

• David Stott, VP, Enterprise International at Bullhorn, shared this quote and I think it’s a great reminder for any organization going through rapid growth. Change isn’t easy for anyone – but it’s definitely making us stronger as a cohesive, global unit here at Bullhorn. 

• Matt Fischer, Bullhorn’s President and CTO, shared this message during his session on our tech roadmap. I’m always energized by Matt’s passion and commitment to challenging the entire organization to up our game and view things through the eyes of the customer. 

• Ryan Murphy, VP of Global Enterprise, who has been instrumental in Bullhorn’s growth within the Enterprise space over the years (and I’m fairly certain still sleeps very little as he’s fixated on how we deliver the most value for the top firms across the globe at all times) shared this quote which hits home given the evolving market dynamics.

As the world continues to come to terms with the changing way that work gets done – via a mix of humans and automation – the staffing and recruiting industry globally has never been better positioned to continue to deliver flexibility and choice to a culture that progressively values these attributes.

The time truly is now and I’m thrilled to give up my phone for a while* to focus on making the most of the opportunities ahead.  

*a while is definitely relative here based on my mood and workload, but it was 100% a worthwhile exercise that I’d do again in a heartbeat!