Best-selling author, speaker, executive coach; peer advisory boards #ChampagneMoment www.ExactlyWhereYouWanttoBe.com.
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In today’s digital world, it is becoming increasingly difficult for leaders to remain productive and effective throughout the week. We face a barrage of interruptions from employees, customers and devices. One study from the University of California, Irvine found that employees on average are interrupted every three minutes. Since it takes approximately 23 minutes to refocus on the task at hand, this can add up to significant losses in productivity. Research on office workers found that most people are only productive for about two and a half hours each day.
One way that most leaders combat these challenges is by creating set routines and sticking to them. This is an effective strategy as long as the routines and habits put in place are productive ones. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. Sometimes, despite good intentions, our routines actually hurt our productivity and slow us down. If this is the case, you may need to leverage positive disruption to increase productivity.
Understanding The Difference Between Distractions And Disruptions
On the surface, disruption sounds like a very negative thing. While there are negative forms of disruption, they can be used in a positive way. First, it’s important to understand the difference between these two often confused terms.
Distractions are events that happen during the day that take our minds off the task at hand. For example, an unexpected phone call when you are trying to focus would be a distraction. Some of these distractions can be avoided (like muting your phone) while others cannot.
Disruptions are changes (both intentional and unintentional) that alter the routines that we have in place. For example, you might find that you are spending a lot of time checking in with your direct reports each day. You could disrupt this habit by implementing quick huddle meetings to get updates from everyone in less time.
Ultimately, your goal should be to disrupt habits and routines that are not productive or can create distractions in your day. By eliminating these sources of distraction, you can spend more time getting important work done.
Ways To Leverage Positive Disruption In Your Day
Fortunately, there is a simple process that you can use to evaluate your workday and identify areas where disruption can bring the most benefit. In addition to improving your own productivity, you can greatly impact the productivity of your team and organization.
1. Observe your existing habits and routines. Start by spending a few days observing the routines and habits that you currently have in place. Keep a log of your activities and how much time you spend on them. These can be difficult to identify since habits by definition are behaviors you have trained yourself to do automatically through repetition.
2. Identify which habits or routines need disruption. Once you have your list of routines or habits identified, figure out which ones are productive and which ones are not. For example, do you have a habit of always scheduling one-hour one-on-one meetings? Perhaps you don’t need a full hour every time and are creating waste for both yourself and the other meeting participant. Or maybe, you notice you are spending too much time multitasking but, as a result, never manage to get anything significant done.
3. Create an alternative. Next, come up with an alternative to replace any ineffective routines or habits. You don’t have to drastically change the way you work. Sometimes the smallest adjustments can have the most impact and add up to significant improvements in efficiency. Also, by making small changes at a time, you can easily go back to the old way of doing things if they don’t produce the results you had hoped for.
4. Reward yourself. Humans naturally respond well to positive reinforcement. In some cases, you can turn a distraction into a reward for being productive. For example, you might find yourself always stepping away from your desk to grab a mid-morning snack. Instead, keep this as a reward that you can earn if you are productive and complete your daily morning checklist.
5. Encourage your teams to embrace disruption. If you manage a team, you can amplify the impacts of positive disruption by setting the example and encouraging your employees to do the same.
In conclusion, when you have identified the difference between distractions and disruptions, the next step is to leverage positive disruption in your day. Once you do that, your day becomes more productive, and you can achieve more. We all get the same hours in a 24-hour day—use them wisely.
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