How much will interruptions cost you this week?

There are the interruptions that occur from others and then there are the ones that we do ourselves.  Interesting, isn’t it.  We can get so annoyed by interruptions and yet a study has found that about half of our interruptions, we create.

The effects of interruptions on you and your team:

• Estimated to cost US Economy $588 billion a year.

• When employees were asked to calculate the time they lose to interruptions they estimate up to 40-60% of their most productive time at work.

• A study of knowledge/technology workers found that 82 percent of all interrupted work is resumed the same day, but it takes an average of about 23 minutes to get back to the task.

• Interruptions can cause significantly more stress. The study found that if you know you are going to be interrupted you work faster, but the cost of that speed is higher levels of stress.

• Interruptions that are most counterproductive are those that occur that have nothing to do with what you are working on and you have to switch your cognitive resources to completely different topic.

• In another study of up to 26% of interruptions were classified as “organizational issues”.

• Interruptions by co-workers is one of the biggest culprits of workplace interruptions.

Ideas for how to handle interruptions:

• Block off and schedule call-back times on your calendar

• Set time limits on the interaction or conversation – “Would love to talk! I have about 10 minutes before my next meeting.  OR “Let’s spend about 5 minutes on this and if we can’t solve it quickly, let’s schedule a time to get together to discuss in more detail.”

• Meet in their office so you can leave when you need to. If they come into your office, get up and go around your desk and stay standing to indicate a need to make the interaction brief.  DON’T simply keep looking at your computer or phone while they are talking to you.

• Schedule appointments for any interaction that you can, so you can be prepared for the conversation or interaction.

• Schedule quick, standing, 10-minute huddles, at the beginning of each day, so that you can answer any questions or deal with issues before they develop. People will interrupt you less if you are consistently available to them.  By training them to think more in an “important but not urgent” mindset you will be teaching them how to plan and think ahead.

• Time batch your most important tasks during periods that match the activities you want to complete. Knocking out your most important tasks of the day before everyone gets in the office is a proven technique of many successful leaders we coach which ensures that they get those tasks done and stay on schedule to reaching their highest level outcomes for the day and week.

EXERCISE with your team this week:

In your team meeting this week, here are some things to discuss in regard to setting team protocols around when someone is available to be interrupted.

1. What are the most costly interruptions that are occurring and when? Is there a pattern to the interruptions?  Are there specific people or projects that are causing them?

2. Is there a way to prevent interruptions? Are team members interrupting because they don’t have the information they need in order to complete their work?  Is there a way for the team member to obtain the information without having to interrupt?

3. Are team members feeling like they are being interrupted when in fact the interactions that are occurring are part of their job duties? Is there a way to re-distribute job duties during heavy interruption periods in order to create better work flow and higher levels of customer service?

4. What are some ways that each team member can stay more focused and not create their own interruptions?

5. Would team member interruptions be reduced by having a daily 10-min, stand up, huddle? If not, what other idea can the team come up with to help reduce interruptions.