7 WAYS TO HANDLE INTERRUPTIONS AT WORK.

We have at one time or another been interrupted while working and wondered how to react such a situation. Sharing with you an interesting article on talentequity.in/blog

I am sure most of us are not so
efficient in time management at work.
We might think that we have a to-do-
list, time sheet, drafts etc. ready for
the day to accomplish all the
scheduled tasks. But at the end of the
day time sneaks away from us at work
leaving unmet deadlines and
unchecked to-do-list (sounds
familiar?)
This indicates that we have not
managed our time effectively. This may
be because of workplace interruptions
which may not be in our control and
can disturb our schedule and
productivity.Things like a colleague
stopping by to have a chit chat or
seeking help, email/chat pop ups,
unscheduled meeting with boss/
colleague, phone calls,
unsolicited enquiries/consultancy etc.
All these interruptions can disturb the
focus or thought processes and
ultimately the work schedule.
It could be that you are a people
person and very popular in office. May
be you are technically sound of the
work process etc. and people come to
you to get help/suggestion or simply
to have a chit chat and rewind
(sounds familiar again?) Its good to
be available and responsive but not at
the cost of impacting your own
productivity and schedule. I believe
you can not avert these kind of
interruptions fully but you can control
it.
Following are some tips which can be
used:

1. Prioritize – There may be 10 tasks
to accomplish for the day. Divide them
in the category of important and
urgent and accordingly assign time.
Try to finish the important tasks in the
morning hours where the chances of
interruptions are comparatively less.
There may be many tasks which you
may hate to do, finish them first to
keep the rest of work interesting. Also
don’t forget the principle of 80:20
while prioritizing.

2. Create and Share you schedule –
While creating timesheet for the day
keep buffer time to accommodate
unscheduled urgent business
requirements or unplanned meeting/
work assigned by boss. You also can
keep 3 or 4 slots of 10 minutes each in
your timesheet for the same. You can
use google calendar or Microsoft
outlook to share this schedule of
yours so that your co-worker/boss
knows when you are free.

3. Learn to say NO – What if you
have to deliver that report in an hour’s
time and someone walks to you for a
casual chat or some favour and you
know this may be something
unimportant. To meet the deadlines
and keep schedule in line sometimes
you have to say ‘No’ to people or
postpone a little bit. However you can
choose a delicate way to say that.

4.Keep a check on Email and phone
calls – Instead of keeping outlook/
personal mail open and check/
respond to every email
instantaneously, keep a fix timing to
check and respond to emails like twice
or thrice a day. Same goes with calls
also. You can avoid unknown calls on
mobile to keep the momentum of
work going on and respond to them
during lunch hour, coffee break etc.

5. Wear headphones – This may
sound irrelevant initially but people
generally dont disturb someone
wearing headphones. You dont have
to listen to music, just wear it. You will
also avoid the noise around and I
have personally observed that it helps
in focusing on work also.

6.I am in the middle of something –
Don’t hesitate to say this whenever
you get any interruption and you are
working on something important.
There is no problem in doing that. You
also can add that I shall get back to
you after this work or time. This way
they wont come and disturb you
instead you can go to them whenever
you have leisure time.
7. Rescheduling – However after
managing the interruptions efficiently
by above points, still your scheduleti
may get affected little bit. So you
always can have a look to your
schedule to ensure to meet the goal
of the day.

Links to this post: http:// talentequity.in/blog/7-ways-to-handle-interruptions-at-work/