DEVELOPMENT
If you achieve all three goals, you end the day
feeling satisfied, despite the interruptions. If
you end most days without achieving your three
goals, use that as a sign to change your priorities.
How to get
things done when
everybody keeps
interrupting you
You can’t avoid the workplace’s daily
distractions and interruptions, but you
can learn how to stop them getting in
the way of real work, says Gihan Perera.
THE EXPERT
Gihan Perera is a
business futurist,
speaker, and author who
works with business
leaders to help them
lead and succeed in an
uncertain but exciting
future. He is the author
of Disruption By Design:
Leading the change in a
fast-changing world.
In our fast-paced, always-on world,
interruptions and distractions are a fact of life.
You’ll find plenty of advice about how to ‘manage’
other people who interrupt you, but you’ll always
be fighting a losing battle that way. Instead of
trying to control others, here are some practical
ideas to take responsibility yourself and be
proactive about interruptions and distractions.
Know what matters to you
There’s an old saying, ‘the devil finds work for
idle hands’, and it’s just as true today. It’s easier
to be interrupted and distracted when you don’t
have a strong purpose and clear goals. Be sure you
understand your team goals and organisation goals,
be clear about your own role in achieving them
and know what matters to you in your professional
life and your career.
Know what matters today
Neen James, author of Folding Time, recommends
you start each day by writing three things you
want to achieve that day. Whenever something or
someone interrupts you, check whether it’s more
important or more urgent than those three things.
If it is, do it—but get back to your three priorities
as soon as possible.
52 Chief of Staff | Issue 3 2019
Accept it as part of your job
Interruptions might be an essential part of your
role. This is obvious if you’re working in an
externally-facing role, such as answering inbound
calls, greeting people at reception, or selling to
customers in a retail shop. But it also applies in
internal roles—for example, a manager assisting
staff with their work. In this case, interruptions
are normal, so re-frame your thinking about
them.
Delegate effectively
That said, if you or your executive are constantly
being interrupted by staff, it might be a sign you’re
not doing your job properly. You might not be
providing enough information, not giving staff
enough authority, or not giving them enough
training. The best leaders and managers can
confidently say ‘I trust your judgement’ when
they delegate work. If you can’t say this yet,
determine what you need to do to get to that point.
Stop interrupting yourself
If your phone rings, dings, or vibrates for every
email, text message, social media post or app
notification, that’s your own fault. Most apps turn
on notifications by default, so take back control
and turn off these notifications. Even better,
ruthlessly eliminate the services that don’t add
value. Unsubscribe from group mailing lists, leave
Facebook and WhatsApp groups, opt out of Slack
channels, and politely ask to be removed from
unnecessary reply all e-mails.
Choose the right channels
Classify all your communication channels as
either ‘immediate’ or ‘deferred’, and treat these
two groups differently. ‘Deferred’ (sometimes
called ‘asynchronous’) communication doesn’t
need other people there at the same time — for
example, email and online groups. ‘Immediate’
(or ‘synchronous’) communication relies on other
people being there to respond—for example,
phone calls, and meetings, and SMS.
Many interruptions and distractions occur
when people mix up these channels. For example,
email should be deferred, so don’t send email if
it’s something urgent. Also, don’t reply quickly
to non-urgent email, because it builds an
expectation of instant responses.
Which of these ideas can you use right now?
Choose at least one idea from this list and apply it
immediately. S
www.gihanperera.com