Happy 2020!
Welcome to my new blog post for the year! The other day I saw a great list of New Year Resolutions for school counselors from Counselor Keri. I loved the list and feel strongly there are some habits on that list that I need to improve. If you missed it on Facebook, here are her suggested resolutions.
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| Counselor Keri |
As we know, each new year comes with a host of New Year's Resolutions that we have pledged to keep in order to help us improve our personal and professional lives (me included!). One resolution that I often hear from colleagues is that they want to make better use of their time at work when they return after the holidays. I think this a very wise and sensible resolution; however, it is one of the most difficult promises to keep (again, me included). It is so easy to get sucked into old habits and patterns once you go back to work after the break. For instance, you make a pledge that you are really going to make time in your busy day to start eating lunch starting in the new year then an unexpected parent comes in demanding a meeting; you decide you are only going to check your emails once in the morning and once before you go home but you find yourself still checking emails until lunch; or you get distracted talking to a colleague about what you did over the holidays even though you have a ton of schedules to change. These examples include time sucking interruptions that we desperately try to get away from every year; however, we tend to fall right back into these habits so easily. Not long ago, I was talking to a school counselor who told me how he was fed up with unnecessary staff and parent meetings that lasted too long and there was never a resolution. He was frustrated, but did not know what to do to make it better. So the question becomes how do we fix these old habits and patterns that keep coming back? In this post, I would like to give you some tips on how you can address some of the time sucking interruptions that impact our lives personally and professionally.
So, let's define a time sucking interruption.
What is a Time Sucking Interruption
Helene Segura calls time sucking interruptions, "a request, action, or an experience that takes unnecessarily longer amounts of time or unneeded amount of time." Time sucking interruptions in a school can include a counseling department meeting without an agenda and purpose; distractions by colleagues (a co-worker stopping by your door for 15 - 20 minutes to talk about personal issues, students, or just to say hello); actions by other (i.e. texts or emails); procrastination on tasks because you don't want to do that task (i.e. change schedules); and time leaks (short periods where you are constantly disrupted). Below is a poll from CNBC on the top seven time wasters in the workplace. Look familiar?
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| Source: CNBC |
What's the big deal anyway with wasting time?
Researchers have found that when time sucking interruptions become the norm in a workplace or department, it can cause some problematic issues.
1. When interruptions are normalized, individual morale and productivity decline. This can lead to absenteeism, avoiding others, and lack of communication.
2. Neuroscientists found that it takes 30-90 seconds for our brains to reset from an interruption. If a person is constantly interrupted, it can be a severe time waster. For example, according to Segura, 110 phone notifications can lead to 3 hours of wasted time!
3. Workplace clutter competes for your attention and can be highly distracting leading to stress and a lack of productivity.
4. Constant interruptions and time sucking events, when unaddressed, can lead to increased health costs and absenteeism due to stress.
5. Although interruptions are common even in happy work environments, people are often hesitant to share that they are busy and feel obligated to listen. This can cause people to begin to avoid their coworkers or become easily agitated which impacts their relationship.
6. Multitasking is one of the biggest time suckers due to fact that an individual cannot use high level brain skills for more than one task at a time.
Suggested Strategies from Helene Segura:
Helene Segura is a productivity expert who provides workshops on the topic of time wasters in the workplace. She has some really helpful strategies that you may want to think about applying to your office in the new year.
- You must truly value your time and identify the biggest wasters of your time. When you value your time, you will be assertive in protecting it.
- Minimize phone and email distractions. Set aside a set amount of time to check emails and phone messages.
- Make staff and parent meetings productive. Ask the following questions:
- Is there a definitive purpose to the meeting? Does it make sense to make at this time?
- Have a shared, clear agenda.
- Is everyone coming to the meeting with a clear deliverable?
- Will someone be keeping the time? Segura suggests that 30 minutes is an appropriate amount of time for a meeting and a timer for talking should be used.
- Instead of complaining about useless meetings, consider offering to facilitate future meetings to set more productive agendas and structures.
- Be direct and assertive with staff, students, and parents. Have you set clear limit on your availability? Also, consider making a time to speak to constant interrupters and set a plan for having future conversations.
As you go back to work this week, consider minimizing the interruptions in your day by taking control of space. Some of us may take longer than others to make changes, but a small change is better than no change at all.
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