The curse of workplace busyness

It's more choice than compulsion.

I can't believe how busy I am! How did this happen?

This article by Travis Bradberry makes some excellent points about the productivity compromise that comes with being busy all the time in the workplace, and about the time slippage costs involved in multi-tasking.

But let's examine why this problem (although many don't see it as a problem) is there. Why do people get into a situation where they have multiple things going on, all of which demand their immediate attention?

To be fair, it's not ALL a choice. At almost all the companies I work with, the standard statement from employees is something like this: "We are constantly asked to do more with less." I believe that. The speed of business now, the flux of opportunities and the need to respond quickly to changes is driving a massive need for efficiency and cut through. There is lots to do. Technology's implicit promise to help with efficiency doesn't always play out, and sometimes it makes it worse.

There is, however, a lot of choice involved in the urge to be busy all the time, and obscure motivations often underpin these choices. Some people feel worthless unless they are doing multiple things at once, and/or believe that they can only work when under pressure. I've also observed in a corporate environment a "hero" orientation: the person who is in back-to-back meetings all day, who gets the most emails and is up all night talking to head office overseas is the person who is most respected in the company. Things like this form powerful behavioural examples.

But more about choice. Look at the phone or the email program on the laptop of a so-called busy person. It is usually a sea of notifications, unsent draft emails and unread messages from LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Slack and many other services. This is all a choice. In simplest terms, the choice is to allow notifications from all these online services. It's to subscribe to all kinds of email newsletters that are never read. It's the choice to let more noise into your world to increase the sense of being pressed all the time. It's also visible in a busy person's calendar. In my observation, these people don't triage their appointments well. They allow themselves to be dragged into discussions that they can avoid and/or they don't delegate well and/or manage processes effectively. Their teams may be habituated to checking every small detail with their boss, and/or the boss might have trouble letting go.

Most things in life are choices, whether we are comfortable with that reality or not. The choice to always be busy is, in large measure, one of those things too. Consider whether the choices you are making are serving you or hindering you.