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| | 11 Tips for Managing Interruptions
By Paulette Ensign
- Eliminate "drop-in" visits by using a visual barrier at your work space. Tall plants in direct line of vision of a door or window is one of many ways to accomplish this.
- Use a phone headset to free your hands while on the phone. Lightweight headsets are now available.
- We are better at giving advice to others than to ourselves. You will come up with just the right answer to move through your own procrastination if you think of it in terms of what you might tell someone else.
- Estimate the time for a task and double it to accommodate interruptions. If you finish earlier than you estimated, it will fell like a bonus and a breather.
- Schedule cooperative time among secretaries. If each secretary's phone is covered by the others for hour or two a day, the productivity and satisfaction of each secretary and their boss will greatly increase.
- Allow voice mail or an answering machine to take your calls when you want uninterrupted time. That is one of the many reasons the technology exists.
- Use another office, conference room, library or somewhere other than your office to work uninterrupted.
- Write yourself a note about where you left off for easier re-entry when you come back to something. The time you take writing the note will often be less than reading back into where you left off.
- Inform a caller you would like to talk to them and ask them "when would be a better time than now?" You will be both gracious and in control of your time in this way.
- Keep a minimal number of seats in your office to discourage "drop-ins" and long visits. People are less likely to hang around if they are standing.
- Work earlier or later than others in your business to minimize interruption. The adjustment might will be minor inconvenience.
Paulette-Ensign
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