I was an avid reader growing up. I’ve read the Little House on the Prairie series probably 30 times and an unknown number of Black Beauty and Nancy Drew novels. I remember sitting for hours in the corner of our living room in my daddy’s favorite recliner, absorbed in the stories. Occasionally my mother would come fuming into the living room upset: “Didn’t you hear me call you?” I would look at her strangely and, as I came back to reality, answer sincerely, “No, Mommy, I didn’t.” And that was the truth!

 That level of concentration is hard to achieve today. So many things compete for our attention in the workplace that it’s often very difficult to concentrate. This article will improve your ability to focus on a project and finish the task at hand.

With phone calls, hallway conversations, emails, and people “stopping by,” how often do you get interrupted during the day? Let’s say you interact with six people frequently throughout the day, and each one interrupts you in some form every two hours. With six stakeholders, that would be 24 interactions a day, or 120 a week, resulting in an average interaction three times an hour in a 40-hour week. If each interruption took ten minutes, you would spend 50% of your time on them. If you can’t work for more than a few minutes without being interrupted, a small project could end up taking all day.

We’ve tried the extremes, which are (1) an open-door policy, and (2) blocking off time for several hours and hiding from everyone. The open-door policy produces so many interruptions that it’s almost impossible to get anything done. If you’re not available at all, a small problem you could have handled promptly turns into a crisis because you couldn’t be reached. You need a balance between controlling interruptions and staying informed.

            Use an understood signal. If several people in your department are having problems with drop-in visitors, agree on a signal that says, “Please don’t interrupt unless it’s an emergency.” A manager I worked with at Coca-Cola had an “open-door” policy. He wanted his employees to feel comfortable talking to him about anything, anytime. Unfortunately, he rarely could find time to get his work done. At his next staff meeting, he explained the problem he was having. He said that when he had a deadline, he would put on his red Coca-Cola baseball cap. His door would remain open in case there was an emergency, but he would prefer employees didn’t interrupt him during those times. He reported it worked like a charm. Get together with your department and agree on a signal everyone will use consistently. Installing curtains across the cubicle door? Turning your nameplate around? Wearing orange armbands? Partially closing the door? One group I worked with found that coworkers respected the signal about 80% of the time. When I questioned the people who said others weren’t respecting their signals, it turns out they never took down their signals. They were never available to their coworkers, so their coworkers simply ignored their signals. If you use this system, make sure you don’t abuse it.

Establish conditional interruptions. If you’d rather not use a signal, you can agree on which issues merit interruptions:

Type 1 issues are those that require your input specifically. The world will stop until you are available to discuss it. Condition your colleagues to interrupt you only for these types of issues.

 Type 2 issues need only a quick “yes” or “no” answer and require just a little interaction. Have your colleagues “save up” these issues and check in with you once a day for five things instead of five interruptions with one thing apiece.

 Type 3 issues are those that could be answered by someone else; you’re not the only person in the world who can help. Kindly request that people look elsewhere for answers to Level 3 issues. Avoid the “it’s not my job” attitude; simply educate the visitor on the appropriate resource.

Type 4 issues are already answered in print somewhere—like a procedure, guide, or employee manual—and don’t require your assistance. People ask these types of questions when they’re being lazy. Tell your coworkers clearly, “Please don’t bother me with Level 4 issues.”

 Set aside “down time.” Some companies have instituted a period of time every day where you cannot interrupt another employee, schedule a meeting, or answer your phone. Can you imagine having an hour and a half to yourself every morning? These “quiet times” can be used quite successfully. Allow employees to turn on their voicemail if they are up against a tight deadline. Work out an agreement with your colleagues to cover phones for one another at certain times to etch out a little uninterrupted time each day. You might consider closing your door (if you have one) when you truly need to concentrate. Establish fixed office hours when you can be interrupted.

Schedule regular check-in times. Are you rarely available to talk? Perhaps people are interrupting you because they know they must grab you when they can. The solution is to schedule regular check-in times for updates from people you must talk to often. Have each person create a running list of things they need to discuss, so you can cover all the points at once. Pay attention to who interrupts you the most and chat about this new approach.

Turn away from busy hallways or doors. Humans are curious, so when someone walks by, it’s our nature to look up to see who just passed. If people are wandering around looking for someone to bother, they will catch your eye and smile. Not wanting to be rude, you smile back. They enter your office and ask the death question, “So, how’s it going?” Congratulations, you just bought yourself an easy ten-minute interruption. One solution is to rotate your desk or change the layout of your cubicle so that your back faces the door. If someone walks by and sees that you are busy, they are less likely to interrupt you (but not always). If you can’t rotate your desk, work at an angle or face a corner. Use a computer screen or cabinet to block your corridor view.

Don’t obey your thoughts. Many times you interrupt yourself. You’re sitting at our desk, concentrating on an important project, when all of a sudden you remember you forgot to tell Chris about a project update. So you get up or pick up the phone or dash off an email to tell Chris. Then you go back to your desk and start working again, only to get another thought. “Oh, that’s right!” you say, and you do that.

1.     Stop!

2.     Ask yourself when you will do the task.

3.     Write it on the appropriate daily to-do list, or if it is a

4.     Few months from now, write it on your master task list.

Don’t listen to your brain or you will never complete what’s in front of you. This is why so many people have “half-done” projects all over the place!

 Communication Logs. Grab a three-ring binder, some loose-leaf paper, and A-Z tabs. Create a separate sheet for each person you communicate with frequently. File the sheets behind the first letter of their last names. When your brain reminds you of something, log it on person’s sheet and go right back to what you were working on. When a person’s sheet has several thoughts “saved-up,” call that person and set up a meeting to review the items you’ve come up with.

Go into hiding. When I needed to put the finishing touches on my book, I knew I could never complete it if I worked in my office. So I would escape for three days at a time to my friend Kay Baker’s house, where no one could find me. Without the daily office distractions, I finished my book.  If you absolutely have to get away for a solid hour without being interrupted, find an empty conference room or borrow a vacationing colleague’s office.

Lastly, set your mind properly. Consciously, willfully decide that you are going to concentrate. Have a positive attitude going into the task. Prepare your materials before getting started and have what you need at your fingertips.  Here’s to focusing on your work and finishing what you started!

© 2004 Laura Stack.

Laura Stack, MBA, CSP, a professional speaker and trainer, is known as “The Productivity Pro.”Ò The author of Leave the Office Earlier (Broadway Books, 2004), Stack is an expert on employee productivity and workplace issues. For seminar information or to subscribe to her free monthly newsletter, visit her website at www.TheProductivityPro.com or call 1-888-284-PEAK

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