Busy offices are full of lots of humans working. They are also full of lots of distractions and interruptions. It can be hard to be productive when there is a whirlwind of activity happening around you.
Like, REALLY hard.
In fact, research suggests that the average office worker is only productive for around three hours a day. The rest of the workday is lost to disruptions, procrastination, side-tracks, and chit-chat.
Some lost productivity is inevitable. But there are things you can do to get the most out of your limited productive time.
Try these two techniques:
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Schedule interruptions
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Have a ‘do-not-disturb’ zone
They might sound odd, but these two tips can help you, and your team, work productively in a busy office.
Schedule interruptions
This might seem impossible. After all, if you can schedule your interruptions, they aren’t really interruptions, are they?
Lots of the stuff that interrupts us can actually be scheduled.
A great example of this is email.
Setting aside regular dedicated times for actives like email is a way of scheduling this potential interruption. Start by identifying what regular things interrupt you. Slot time into your day for these tasks, and then stick to just the allotted time. Scheduling the likely interruptions in this way can help you be more productive.
The same thing applies to physical interruptions.
Offices tend to have their own rhythms, including ‘unproductive holes’ where interruptions are inevitable. Learning the flow of your office, and embracing it into your schedule, can help you make the most of your time.
Take lunch, for example.
If most of your team heads to lunch between eleven and one, chances are these hours are full of commotion. Office banter probably happens at this time too. And that’s fine! Set this block to be dedicated for work that can be interrupted and picked back up easily, rather than for projects that need concentration.
Have a ‘do-not-disturb’ zone
Some tasks need your full attention. For this type of work, you need some way of signalling that you need to be left alone.
If you are lucky enough to have a private office, shut the door. If you don’t, there are other ways to encourage people not to interrupt. Putting on headphones is generally understood as a sign of ‘please do not disturb’. But if that doesn’t work, you may need to go more literal. Putting up a sign (like a stop sign or an actual ‘do not disturb’ sign) at your desk or on the back of your chair can let the team know your request.
Ideally, though, the office should have at least one dedicated do-not-disturb physical location that team members can use when they need. This doesn’t need to be a massive space. It simply needs to be a comfortable environment for when you need a quiet place to work.
A Bureau booth is an ideal way to create private, distraction-free places even in the busiest of offices. Available in four size options, flat-packed, and portable, a Bureau booth can create a productive oasis for anyone to use when they need it.
Plus, Bureau booths double as ‘I won’t disturb you’ zones. That is, these soundproof booths are the ideal place where video conferences, phone calls, and face-to-face discussions can occur without interrupting the rest of the office.
Let us help you find the right Bureau booth for your busy office, so you can get stuff done!