Too Many Irons in The Fire?

In today’s workplace, doing several things simultaneously has become a part of every day office life. Hectic schedules, increased workloads, and a plethora of technological advances enabling access to colleagues, projects, and clients at any time of the day or night, have made it necessary for professionals to become multi-taskers. While multi-tasking may seem like the best way to boost productivity, there are some instances where “single-tasking” is your better choice.

Some tasks and situations require your full attention in order to be handled efficiently and to ensure quality isn’t sacrificed for quantity. When is multi-tasking not an effective choice?  Here’s some advice:

• No common ground. Multi-tasking can appear to be a creative solution when you’re overwhelmed with assignments. But if the tasks are unrelated, it can be counterproductive, increasing the potential for error, causing stress and wasting time. Prioritize unconnected projects by importance and choose to single-task instead.

• Go ahead, I’m listening. But are you really? Routine conference calls with colleagues may seem like a good time to catch up on mundane paperwork or clear away desk clutter. But this can sap your focus on the speaker and cause you to miss vital information or requests for input. If you feel you must multitask, at least make sure the mute button is functioning properly first; no need to advertise the fact that you’re not fully engaged.

•  Anyone mind if I bring my laptop? Attempting to multi-task in plain sight, (squeezing in some work on a laptop or sending emails on a Blackberry during a daily meeting) should always be avoided. Even if what you’re attending to is perfunctory and doesn’t require your full attention, it’s disrespectful to your co-workers to be so obvious. If there’s no way to get out of a meeting, forgo your goal of maximum productivity in order to maintain the respect of colleagues. It’s more than worth the tradeoff.

• Switching horses in mid-stream. Since multi-tasking involves starting one thing before finishing another, it’s an approach with too much margin for error when tackling weightier assignments. Safeguard yourself and your colleagues by single-tasking important projects where consequences are dire if a deadline is missed or something is overlooked.