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With so many gadgets and so much technology designed to make us more efficient and productive, one might think our efficiency and productivity would be improved. But research has shown that, to some extent, the reverse may be true: “multi-tasking” doesn’t work, and employees are being distracted by constant e-messages. To be effective at work, experts say, return to the old-fashioned fundamentals: keep a clean desk, develop project plans and timeframes, schedule one’s time throughout the day and focus on one thing at a time.

“We develop bad habits [at work], and it’s easy for us to be distracted,” says Vince Marsh, senior specialist in leadership and team development at Deloitte & Touche LLP in Halifax, who recently delivered a continuing legal education online presentation to Canadian Bar Association members.

Workers tend to check their e-mail and voicemail as soon as they arrive at the office in the morning, but “the first thing you should do on arriving is focus on the most important [project],” says Mr. Marsh: “If you can get a couple of hours in on that, then go to voicemail and e-mail, you’ll be a lot more productive. Don’t read the paper, don’t do any Internet surfing; just start up the computer, and start working on something important.”

One’s mind is fresher in the morning, making it an ideal time of day to give one’s undivided attention to a brain-oriented task; and checking e-mail or surfing the Internet can cause the mind to “sprint,” says Marsh (who calls multi-tasking “an oxymoron”).

“Your mind is switching quickly, and your mind picks up that rhythm. Slowing it down later is a more difficult thing to do.” So wait to open your e-mail program and pick up your voicemail messages: “there’s usually nothing there that you can’t respond to later.”

This new routine will take a few days of practice, but once one has experienced the solitude and focus that comes from avoiding distracting tasks first thing in the day, avoiding them will be easier. “I really noticed my productivity went way up,” Marsh notes.

Ann Gomez likewise counsels avoiding interruptions throughout the day. Law environments in particular are stressful, notes Gomez, who is president and CEO of Clear Concept Inc., a Toronto-based management consulting firm; however, productivity is high if workers can focus for long periods of time on tasks “rather than switching back and forth.”

She points to research showing that multi-tasking results in a higher degree of mistakes and slower completion of work. Indeed, a 2005 study conducted in the U.K. found that the distractions of constant e-mail, text and phone messages proved a greater threat to IQ and concentration than taking cannabis; the effect on staff who allowed themselves to be constantly interrupted by e-messages was found to be the equivalent, over a day, to the loss of a night’s sleep.

“For a long time, we were led to believe multi-tasking was the way to get things done,” says Gomez. “But … focusing will always trump multi-tasking.”

This requires: a plan and timeframe for each project from the outset; a master to-do list; a clean desk and organized office; planning each day from the beginning with one’s secretary; and learning to manage interruptions. Check e-mail at set times during the day; close one’s office door to discourage co-workers from dropping in (if they do, says Ms. Gomez, tell them you’ll see them in 20 minutes – and rise to your feet, if need be, to discourage lingering). Let the phone go to voicemail, retrieving messages at a set time. And deal immediately with e-messages or phone messages during the scheduled pick-up times; don’t open a message and defer it until later.

“What I recommend is that people be proactive with their day,” Gomez says: “decide what you need to do, then block off the time. There may be changes to that plan, but it’s important to have a plan... If something else comes up, and it’s not as important, I recommend people fit it in between their current priorities. Have an idea of what your day looks like, and don’t let anything change that time.”

Marsh suggests moving all meetings to the afternoon as an effective method of blocking time. “I encourage clients to block meetings so they’re almost all back-to-back,” and shorter; often half-hour meetings are booked because office-scheduling software is set up that way, where 10 minutes might be sufficient.

“Start forcing yourself to have shorter and shorter meetings,” he says. “It’s easier to have shorter meetings on the phone, and people are more likely to be on time; it’s another way to be more productive.”

Meetings should have set agendas, with times set for each item. The planned agenda has two purposes, Gomez notes: it helps people prepare for the meeting and during the meeting it helps people stay focused on the topic at hand.

Both Marsh and Gomez stress that workers must learn to feel comfortable saying no and deferring tasks. Marsh coaches clients to use what he calls “yes/no negotiate.”

“There are all kinds of pressure on people to say yes, and people who are really good end up getting overcommitted really fast.” Personal and professional commitments can both suffer, and over-commitment can breed resentment, and even a failure to do what was agreed to. Marsh advises clients to negotiate with those making the requests: “Can you do it later, or delegate the work to someone else? Negotiate so it’s manageable.”

And finally, professionals could be more effective by relying more on good teamwork, he says. “Teams are not something that law firms use really effectively”; employees may be on teams, but as individuals working towards individual results. And if teams aren’t working well, employees’ primary point of contact with the firm will not be strong.

“Teams are how most [positive] results are accomplished,” says Marsh.
“They are a fundamental building block to productivity.”