Sometimes it is all in the timing. Knowing that I wanted to work out during lunch today, I headed to work a little early. When I was five minutes from the plant, my phone rang. Turns out that the water main to the plant (for services, nothing to do with generating the electricity) broke, and there was no water for facilities, etc. All non-essential personnel were sent home. The good news is that I did not get in the long line to get into the plant, I just drove by and headed home.
It is not until you have the opportunity to work in the solitude of the dining room table, no music or TV, that you appreciate how many interruptions there are in an office environment. I accomplish so much more when there is no "dinging" of incoming e-mail, no drive-by-head-in-the-doorway-questions, and no ringing of the telephone.
It is also about eliminating mistakes. If there are constant interruptions, and you cannot remain focused on the task at hand, that creates human error traps. I have coached my newest team member that when she is working on something critical or that needs focused attention, to unplug the phone, disable the e-mail alerts, and post a sign on her cube to Please Do Not Disturb. It is a paradigm shift, because we are conditioned to provide service and help others, but sometimes you just need to help yourself by staying focused.
Here's hoping you had a quiet and low stress day :o)
1 comment:
I do the same thing at my job. While I can't get away from the phone calls or some interruptions, sometimes I really have to shut out other conversations and really focus on what I'm doing. Otherwise, it's very easy to make mistakes. Good advice!
Beth
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