Expert Advice From Priority Management International Inc.

Decrease Your Interruptions 20% or More

Interruptions are among the most insidious enemies of workplace productivity. On average, managers spend up to three hours a day dealing with interruptions, and our research shows that people, not technology are the most common cause. Imagine the productivity gains if you could reduce interruptions by even one half!

Interruptions can come from managers, colleagues, employees… anyone who might step through your office door. But the growing cause of interruptions is technology. Not long ago, we received mail only once a day. Today, faxes, couriers, voice-mail, E-mail and our Blackberry’s bombard us with messages by the minute.

The best way to deal with interruptions is to take control. By using these techniques, you can gain undisturbed productive time.

	Set "Office Hours" Some people set aside a certain period of time regularly when they are not to be disturbed, such as 8-9 a.m. every morning or every Thursday afternoon. Program your voice-mail to indicate you’re in a meeting or ask reception to pass on the same message. This will give you valuable uninterrupted time to tackle important projects.
	Just Say “No” Take control. If your current task is a higher priority than the subject of the interruption, schedule time later in the day for the new issue. This allows you to stay on track without alienating co-workers.
	Communicate Clearly Reduce the length of interruptions – stand-up meetings take only 75% of the time sit-down meetings take. Communicate your unwillingness to continue a   conversation through body language – glancing at your watch, gathering materials on your desk or turning towards your computer screen. Or simply tell co-workers when you need quiet time to complete a task.
	“Bundle” Meetings By scheduling regular meetings with key people, you can stave off interruptions and deal with matters in a single meeting.
	Practice What You Preach Stop and question whether something is enough of a priority to warrant an interruption. Encourage co-workers to practice this technique.
	Make Technology Your Slave instead of the reverse. If you retrieved every E-mail as soon as it was sent, answered the phone every time it rang and dealt with every new fax the instant it hit your desk, you could easily spend your day reacting instead of focusing on your priorities. Allow your voice-mail to pick up messages if you are in the middle of an important project. Schedule time to retrieve E-mails each day. Consider whether a round of “telephone tag” could be short-circuited with a simple E-mail exchange.

However, the most effective way of reducing interruptions is to develop your personal workload management skills. Following training, managers have reported unnecessary interruption decreased by 20 percent.

To learn more click to see your workload management opportunities