simplerich

Multi-tasking got a lot of press a while back and it was a buzz word everybody was using, claiming to be great at multi-tasking at every opportunity. Today’s post over at Think Positive! resonates with me a great deal as I work with a new manager on productivity, workflow, and how to get things done more effectively. Day 1 typically involves me observing and helping out, where I’m just another set of hands and feet while they show me their work flow. Frequently Day 1 consists of me watching them start a dozen projects and finishing one or two. This was no different.

Bottom line – this research showed that heavy multitaskers don’t filter out irrelevant information, organize memories, or switch attention from one thing to another well. This suggests that heavy multitaskers need to slow down and focus on fewer things at once- we would be more productive. ~ from Think Positive!

This is what I see a lot of, and it starts out by accident. I’m working on project X, inventorying my widgets, when someone comes over with a question. Now. I can’t ignore customers so I go to help the customer and then return to inventorying my widgets, only while I was on my way back from Aisle 72 I noticed a spill of Spork-juice and I go get the mop to clean that up. I clean up the Spork-juice, put back the mop, notice the sink is dirty, and clean the sink. What’s that buzzing noise? EEP! The 4ft fluorescent in here is about to go. Better replace that before I need to replace the ballast. The bulbs are in the shed. I’ll just go get the bulbs, what the heck? Weeds in the corner. I’ll pull those as I go towards the shed so I don’t waste steps. Ouch! Prickly pear?!? What’s that doing here? I”ll go inside and get the gloves I  keep by the register. Uh oh… customer wants help finding the Spatulas; they’re by the widgets so I get back to my inventorying them. ARGH!!!

You think that doesn’t happen? It happens every day to every manager out there and all that stuff needs doing. It just doesn’t all need doing RIGHT NOW. That’s the filter that keeps missing. In fact, most of the time the manager has people who can do the work they’re doing. They don’t mind doing it because it’s a nice break from their work, but honestly… it’s not their job. If they’re doing the work of an entry level person then what’s the entry level person going to do? They’re not doing their job. The most expensive person in the store is pulling weeds and wiping down the sink while the work they’re supposed to be doing… inventorying the widgets, isn’t getting done.

In my examples above a lot of the things weren’t being done at the same time… so weren’t truly multi-tasking will be what those who are in favor of multi-tasking will say. If the manager were listening to a podcast while doing the widget counting that would be multi-tasking. True. But how much attention could be paid to either job then? If the podcast is so dull that a person can count during it without missing anything how much attention is the podcast worth? If the podcast is so good that the counter can’t count then the counting isn’t being done right. Attention is, to me, a gate, and I can focus well on one thing at a time. I can do more than one thing at a time, but I can’t do it well, and in my experience most people can’t either. So, all those things that come up that are distractions can either be put on a list to do later, or delegated.

Delegating isn’t dumping, and if it isn’t done by the right people, at some point the manager may have to step in and do it rather than leave the job undone… but they shouldn’t be the first person to do it all the time. They’ve got other work to do, and that’s the point of this post. When the manager HAS to stop doing what they’re doing to do something equally or more important, e.g. helping a customer, that is not multi-tasking. That’s switching tasks. That’s different, and it’s the right thing to do. Paying attention to what’s important, and giving it your undivided attention gets an important job done faster and more accurately than half-way doing it while half-way doing another job.

We all do it though. We’ll have the TV on while we write a blog post, but we wouldn’t manage our employee’s payroll while eating a bowl of soup and watching Spongebob Squarepants. That wouldn’t be a good idea at all… certainly not for the employees who suddenly find themselves being paid in crabby patties. If we find ourselves delegating more than we’re doing we may be guilty of dumping. If we don’t remember that the people we’re delegating to also have something on their plate we’re setting them and ourselves up for failure. We need to let the employee know where on the list of priorities the new job is. If it’s changing a light bulb that will be going bad soon, that’s not as important as helping a customer, or cleaning up a spill that could be hazardous to others. It’s our job to prioritize. We need to prioritize our work and our employee’s work. If we don’t, and if we treat everything as equally important and try and get it all done at once we’re going to get a whole lot of stuff not done at once, important and unimportant.

Do you want the pilot of an airplane you’re a passenger on to multi-task? Do you want your surgeon or your kid’s surgeon to be multi-tasking? If you think they can’t do two jobs at once why would you think you should? If it’s important that they focus then it’s important that we focus. One thing at a time… it won’t hurt, honest.

And as an aside: If you need help getting things done, getting organized, and want a good podcast to listen to while you’re doing something else? Give Get It Done Guy‘s podcast a listen. He’s also got a book coming out soon, keep your eyes open.