Interruptions at Work – 5 Ways to Manage Them Proactively
By Claudine Motto
Whether you run your business from a home office, or you work in a corporate environment, interruptions at work are a fact of life. In fact, they’re a central element in many jobs, and as a result, there’s a need to adjust and work with very short periods of concentration.
That doesn’t mean you should sit back and blindly accept all interruptions. These tips will show you how to minimize those that are unnecessary as well as give you ideas to make the most out whatever focus time you have in between.
· Get to the real issue, eliminate the interruption. Keep a simple “interruption log” for a week – every time you’re interrupted (or you interrupt yourself) note it down, how long it took, who it involved, and why.
At the end of the week, look for patterns – if interruptions are coming from the same sources/people, perhaps they need more training, you need to sharpen your delegation skills, or you need to learn to say “not now.” If clients are having to follow up on things you promised by a certain date, perhaps you need to implement better systems so that things don’t fall through the cracks.
· Break the “react immediately” habit. If you’ve fallen into the habit of dealing with each and every interruption as they come up, you’re at least partially responsible for the never-ending cycle.
Start assessing interruptions before you give in to them – unless truly urgent, or helpful (like a passing comment by a colleague that sparks an idea you hadn’t thought of before, or an email with the information you need to complete a task on your to-do list), if it’ll take you away from something more important, write it down and deal with it later.
· Curve the email “high.” Dr. Tom Stafford, co-author of the book Mind Hacks, believes that email is addictive for the same reason gambling is: you lose most of the time, but sometimes you win. So we’re always checking email in the hopes of finding a little “win” – a bit of juicy news, an interesting link, or maybe a friend inviting us over for dinner.
Which is why turning email alerts off and processing email in batches is so hard for most people to adhere to, even though it makes a lot of sense. I encourage you to incorporate those strategies, because they do work – but if you have given them an honest and consistent shot, and can’t seem to stick with it, at least aim for focus when working on key projects or tasks. Identify the reward you’ll get from making a real dent on that important project and make that reward the focus.
And don’t be shy – whenever you sit down to work on that project, put a note as big as necessary to remind you why that project is worth your 100%. I often have clients simply write “100%” in big bold letters or on bright colored paper – and they’re always amazed at how it helps them pull through focus time.
· Know what you can do in your average bursts of uninterrupted time. For example, 10 minutes is enough to brainstorm a simple project into steps, make a phone call, file a couple or papers or put some stuff on your desk away.
Be ready with a few of these tasks so that you can use those 10 minutes productively.
· Consider instant messaging. Surprisingly, recent (2008) studies at Ohio State University and University of California, Irvine show instant messaging to be less disruptive than an email, telephone call, or face-to-face visit. Because no one is expecting you to solve a complicated issue via instant messaging, it’s almost guaranteed that the communication will be brief, and a good medium for getting quick answers or scheduling a time to meet.
And because it’s more “acceptable” to ignore an instant message, you won’t feel guilty for setting an away message letting others know you’re busy or away from your desk. So consider using it to communicate with co-workers, freelancers, or people that you manage.
When you learn to manage interruptions and distractions in a proactive way, you get the most out of your workday, while still accommodating unexpected situations. This is all part of our ability to be flexible and is even more important now in our age of technology.
© 2009 Claudine Motto
Productivity Coach and Professional Organizer Claudine Motto helps home office geniuses, entrepreneurs, and independent professionals get organized and in control of their workload so they can reach their goals with less struggle and less stress. She offers one-on-one coaching and group training programs – please visit http://www.vistalnorte.com or call 561-641-9500 for more information, to sign up for her monthly newsletter, or to schedule a complimentary 20-minute consultation.