Guest Bloggers

Do you face constant interruptions in the workplace? These attention management strategies will increase your success

In my corporate workshops, participants often ask me how they can manage all the interruptions they juggle during their days. They need a strategy to balance being available and helpful to colleagues, while still having undistracted time to get important work done in a thoughtful way. The suggestions below are excerpted from my latest book, Attention Management: How to Create Success and Gain Productivity - Every Day.

Research shows that we switch our attention every few minutes, on average. Often, it’s because we are interrupted by typical workplace distractions – a new email, a co-worker, a ringing phone. It’s difficult to apply our brain power in a meaningful way in 3-minute increments! This means that we’re not giving our best to our jobs, and it also leaves us tired, but unsatisfied at the end of the day.

Manage Interruptions to Avoid Being Distracted

We must have undistracted time to get important work done, so the first step is managing interruptions, or as I call it, “controlling our environment.” For example, it’s understandable to want to be helpful to colleagues, but an “open-door policy” doesn’t mean we must be available all the time. Instead, it needs to be more like “office hours” — clearly defined times when we are accessible to others, and other times when we are not (except in case of emergency).

These “do not disturb” times must be communicated to co-workers, because once they’ve said, “Do you have a minute?”, you’re already distracted. No matter how deeply we’re focused on a task and how much progress we’re making, the slightest interruption — such as someone calling our name — is enough to make all that momentum go “poof!” Then it can take several minutes to several hours to work up to the same level of concentration.

All of these workplace interruptions hurt your productivity. If you have a door, close it. If people walk through it anyway, and you reward them with your attention, this indicates to them that the door didn’t mean anything. You have to create boundaries, and then honor them. Otherwise no one else will either.

But even if you don’t have a door, you can still set some boundaries. Put on headphones or give co-workers other indications that you would prefer not to be disturbed. I love seeing the creative and funny signs my clients post on their chairs after our work together, such as:

“Please do not disturb unless it’s an emergency. Qualifying emergencies:

-I’m on fire.

-Oprah is looking for me.”

Preventing these interruptions in advance helps us to use our time more efficiently, and to also create an environment where we can focus on our most important tasks. Progress on meaningful work is a powerful motivator, and the more we do this, the more productive and satisfied we tend to be.

Discover Your Ideal Balance

It’s true that some jobs require more availability than others, such as human resources, customer service, and IT support. Remember, though: if you have other work that needs to get done besides being available to other people, you must create some of that uninterrupted work time.

Consider approximately how much of your work time requires thoughtful, independent work, and how much requires collaboration and availability to others. Make a note of the percentage split. It doesn’t have to be precise, just the answer you come up with in a minute or two of thought.

Then, consider how you might organize your days and exert some control over your environment, even in an open office setting, to incorporate an open (and closed) door policy. Your percentage split can guide how much time per day your sign is up or your door is closed. You must be vigilant, though. If your “do not disturb” message is up all day, every day, it will immediately lose its effectiveness. What method can you use to give your colleagues the message that you’re “in the zone” and would rather not be disturbed?

Considering these ideas may lead you to make some changes in your behavior.But even if it doesn’t, let these ideas “percolate” in your brain for a while. Allowing constant interruptions is probably a habit you’ve formed out of necessity. And it’s hard to break a habit you don’t realize you have. With the points from this article on your mind, you’ll become more aware of this habit of distraction.

-Maura Nevel Thomas

If you want to learn more about Attention Management, click here!

A version of this article originally appeared on maurathomas.com.

You can preview and purchase the book here>>

Good leaders ask, “How do I tell better stories?” Great leaders ask, “What stories do I need to tell?”

Will you be a more effective leader if your stories are well-crafted and delivered? Of course. But the truth is, the story you tell is more important than how you deliver it. You're probably not an actor or a public speaker. You're a leader. Your audience doesn't expect perfection. They expect you to be decisive and helpful.

If you tell a story that helps them do their job better, but you forget the opening line, stutter a little, or even butcher the surprise ending, your audience will still learn from it. But if you tell them an irrelevant or unhelpful story even though you deliver it in a way that would make a Shakespearean actor proud, your audience will never forgive you for wasting their time.

So, what stories do you need to tell?

After conducting over 300 one-on-one interviews with CEOs, leaders, and executives in 25 countries around the world about their use of storytelling in business, here’s my list of the most important ten stories any leader needs to be able to tell at a moment’s notice.

1. Where we came from (our founding story) – Nobody ever quit their job and started a company for a boring reason. Find that reason for your company’s founder and tell that story. It will infect everyone with the same sense of purpose and passion.

2. Why we can’t stay here (a case-for-change story) – Human beings are creatures of habit. Change is an unwelcome visitor. This story provides the rationale for why change is needed and a real human reason to care.

3. Where we’re going (a vision story) – A vision is a picture of the future so compelling, people want to go there with you. And the best way to paint that picture is with a story about what that future will look like when you achieve it.

4. How we’re going to get there (a strategy story) – Strategy is how you’ll get from where you are now to where you want to be. In other words, strategy is a journey. And what better way to describe a journey than a story?

5. What we believe (a corporate-values story) – Values are only words on a piece of paper until they’re tested. This is a story of one of those awkward or uncomfortable moments one of your company values was put to the test.

6. Who we serve (a customer story) – There’s no substitute for getting out of the office and meeting your customer face-to-face. And for the majority of your organization that will never do that, this is a story you tell about one of your customer interactions so they’ll know that customer as well as you do.

7. What we do for our customers (a sales story) – A story about what you did for one of your customers that’s so impressive other people will want to buy what you’re selling as well.

8. How we’re different from our competitors (a marketing story) – You probably have a list of reasons why your product or service is better than your competition. Well, guess what? Nobody remembers your list. But they will remember the story you tell them that shows them those differences as they play out in a real situation.

9. Why I lead the way I do (a leadership-philosophy story) – No series of buzzwords on a piece of paper could ever articulate the subtle, human, and complex nature of your personal leadership philosophy. If you want people to understand how to expect you to lead, you need to tell them a story about what shaped the leader you’ve become.

10. Why you should want to work here (a recruiting story) – Every company claims they offer competitive pay and benefits, challenging work, and great advancement opportunities. If you really want to attract the best talent, you need real stories about why it’s so awesome to work there.

If you want to see an example of each of these stories, plus a few tips on how to come up with your own, you'll find them in the new book, The 10 Stories Great Leaders Tell.

Good luck with your stories.

-Guest post from Paul Smith, author of The 10 Stories Great Leaders Tell.

Computers work because information is gathered, transmitted and stored via electrical signals.

The human brain works because information is gathered, transmitted and stored via electrical signals.

Computers work because they are directed to do so by special programs referred to as software. Humans create the software for computers. Perhaps in the future computers will be able to create their own software. (artificial intelligence)

The human brain works (thinks, calculates, remembers, deduces etc.) because it possesses the most complex software (human intelligence) known to mankind. Moreover, the human brain can change and create new software (thoughts, ideas, memories etc.) throughout its life. No current computer is capable of doing that.

The hardware of a computer consists of a series of wires, electrical micro circuits, chips, processors, screen etc., all of which are made by man. There is no computer on the face of the earth that is capable of repairing or replacing even the simplest part of its own hardware.

The human brain, on a daily basis, changes its hardware, better known as neural circuits. The basic unit of the human neural circuit is the neuron. Thousands of neurons die on a daily basis and are replaced by new ones. Branches of existing neurons wither while new ones reach out to connect with adjacent neurons. This is our neural network, our hardware, and it changes daily. No computer on the face of the earth can do this.

There are many things we can do to harm the growth of our neural circuitry. The good news is that there are many things we can do to stimulate the growth of our neural circuits, at any stage of life.

This involves making better lifestyle choices. What are they?

David Bardsley

Shop Smarter Next Year >>

Here's a post from Lisa Hammond, author of Oh Thank Goodness, It's Not Just Me!

I have a quote hanging up that says, "At worst a house unkept cannot be so distressing as a life unlived." Rose Macaulay already had that figured out back in 1881. She was way ahead of her time!

Summer seems like the perfect time to follow Rose's lead and really start living your life. When was the last time you went off to play hooky? If you can't remember, I suggest you carve out some playtime for yourself immediately. The work can wait, skip the meeting, let the laundry pile up, and take a break.

I have a friend who used to say he wouldn't take a day off because he was sure the company couldn't function without him. He told everyone he was the guy holding up the sun. Well, it turns out, after he retired the sun still managed to come up every single day without him.

I think a lot of us are convinced we are the ones "holding up the sun." News flash, we aren't. The sun is okay without our help.

The world—yes even your own company—will get along just fine without you for a few days, even weeks. In fact, I truly believe it will even benefit from your absence if you take some time off to recharge your batteries. As Larry Eisenberg said, "For peace of mind, resign as general manager of the universe."

Women especially seem to have forgotten the being part of human being. We somehow bought into the human doing theory. It is easy to forget that we are multidimensional women, and we need to nurture all aspects of our lives. And that includes pleasure.

You are the only one who can schedule down time for yourself. Make it a priority and enjoy the blissful summer sunshine—because it turns out you aren't the one holding it up!

Lisa Hammond

The Barefoot CEO ®