MANAGING INTERRUPTIONS
You do want to get your work done on time. At the same time, you do not want to snub others as they approach you to catch up on various activities.
Daily interruptions at your workplace can serve as an impediment to managing your time and at the long-run limit your success.
Because your day is limited to some specific hours, interruptions of whatsoever form can rob you of the time you need to attain success in your work and life.
Furthermore, interruptions can mar your concentration and this means you have to spend more time to re -program yourself to the processes needed to complete your work.
Managing these interruptions well will help you improve your relationship status with your co-workers, your time management skills, and boost your efficiency in your day to day activities.
The ultimate key to doing this is to identify these interruptions or distractions, how they surface, who sprouts them, and prepare for them in the course of your activities.
Get your highlighter ready as we consider the following tools that will help you in your quest.
1)' Say NO sometimes': The fear of being tagged ' the hard-eyed' or 'unfriendly' sometimes make people accept whatsoever or whoever approaches their domain.
They take on everybody; the co-worker having less work to do, the passer-by and many other whatnots.
However, it is sometimes logical and acceptable to say ' NO' to some people, requests or tasks if you are on the clock or busy when someone else can fix it.
If it is not an important conversation, save it for your leisure or if it is an urgent task, refer it to another worker or keep it for another time.
However, in this situation, saying 'NO' in a polite and sincere manner, and backing it up with a short explanation is advisable. Managing interruptions shouldn't be an avenue to hurt other people.
2) ' Re-design your phones to work for you, not against you': Most interruptions or distractions emanate from our mobile phones.
A little planning can go a long way in working to manage interruptions caused by our mobile phones.
When you're behind on a particular project, or proposal for a contract, or you need 100 percent concentration on some delicate paperworks, screen incoming calls or have an assistant take care of messages for you.
In some cases, incessant notifications from different social media platforms which are oftentimes non-urgent or not important serve as distractions.
If you know you're the type that can't help but to read these notifications when they pop in, then you should endeavor to place your mobile phone(s) some distance away from you or kill the notification sound.
3) ' Available and unavailable time': Create the awareness. Let people know when you're available and when you're not.
You could place a notification or easy-to-read symbol at the entrance of your office to send a signal to people when available or not.
In addition, you could devise a non- verbal communication skill with your co-workers which you can all use when unavailable. This helps to lessen interruptions and avoid hurting people.
But, however, if you are a public relations officer, a manager or you deal with a lot of clients face-to-face, you definitely have to be available to meet with people.
You could still put up these barriers when you are unavailable but do not OVERKILL!
4) ' Unavoidable interruptions': In some cases, there are interruptions that no matter how hard you try, you simply can't avoid or control.
You could fix or schedule a more convenient time but if this does not work out, it's better you state clearly your conditions or parameters so that unnecessary details will be excluded.
Also, encourage the individual interrupting to be unceremonious and straight to the point.
Managing distractions or interruptions will help you keep up with your To-do list and improve your efficiency rate.
You need to carry all these tools in your tool box. Sometimes, you only need to learn to say no politely and at another time, re-schedule.
We'll love to hear your views about this in the comment section.
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