Time to Revisit Your Resolution
Happy New Year!
We'd like to share our 2015 BMG New Year's resolution. Yes, just in time to set a new one. Last year, we recognized that time management is probably the single most important factor in productivity. So, at the beginning of the year, made a team commitment to keep office interruptions to a minimum.
As our company has been growing, our shared office space was being used more often. What started out as a busy and high energy workspace turned quickly from collaboration to chaos. Our open communications, and sharing of ideas led to blurting out questions, which meant anyone within earshot was drawn in sometimes unnecessarily.
We started with agreement to this set of ground rules:
1. Dedicate office time separately from time with the team.When we are in a team meeting, the interruptions are welcome and expected. Once the meeting is over, the goal is to utilize your office space/time on project work. Enjoy the social interaction, but then get focused on the task in front of you.
2. Send an email. It sounds sort of silly to email someone who is five feet away from you. We work in a very close proximity to one another. Rather than interrupt the flow of a coworker, we often shoot off a quick email. It is less intrusive, and allows others in the area to continue their workflow.
3. Turn off electronic interruptions. Unless we have the whole office to ourselves, our personal phones and our email notifications are turned OFF.
So, as with any organizational commitment, we are now reviewing to see how we did. Just 12 short months later, we can proudly say that by identifying an area of concern and lining out specific ways to address it, we have done pretty well. In fact, we give ourselves an "A-." As a team we recognize that some days we do a little better than others but tackling this particular issue as a team was something that has allowed us to be more effective -- and dare we say less frustrated.
Posted by: Paula Bradison, with original contributions by MG.