Vistage Speaker Larry Haas spoke to my KEY group this week on Unmasking Multi-tasking. He thoroughly convinced the group through a hands on exercise that multi-tasking is not more effective for you or your customer. We probably won’t ever forget the exercise.
Many times the distractions come from customers. The customer wants progress reports, or wants their product earlier. So, we try to accommodate them. And, the next customer and the next. What we end up with is many open projects and it takes us longer to complete each one, Or, we rush something into production and we have to spend much more time getting it out the door right.
As we discussed how people are interrupted, one other recurring theme was the people who check in with you for a quick answer. If you make them wait while you finish your project, they are delayed by when they can finish their project. One solution is to have designated private work times that you consistently follow. 10-11:30 every morning, for example. People will get used to coming to you before or after. If you don’t believe me, schedule an appointment with your best customer from 10-11:30. Do you think your staff will interrupt? No? I didn’t think so.This has to do with the expectations you set.
If the leadership demands that the organization change, it will change. IT companies do sprints regularly to move group projects along. Rethinking how to do the work can reap significant advantages. Rethinking how you do your own work is the first step. Then, looking at one department, or one project. Then the company as a whole.
Larry Haas described a project he completed with a major defense contractor, where they didn’t start a new project until they completed the last one. (Simple version of the story). The company saved $100,000 in the test project. The company then implemented it through the whole organization. They saved $160mm of US tax dollars.
I’m guessing you could save at least $100,000 by putting all the distractions away while your whole team focused for 45 minutes twice a day. Double dare you…..