Webinar: 3 Ways To Keep Your Employees Focused & Productive

We’re still here, still in some form of remote or hybrid working arrangement. And still figuring it all out and trying to make it work across the variations of fully remote to fully office-based, and all things in between.

Last week I attended the webinar ‘3 Ways To Keep Your Employees Focused & Productive’.

While many things can prevent hard-working people from achieving productivity levels consistent with their work efforts, at the core of this problem is a lack of focus. Disruptions that divert our focus eat up huge chunks of time during our day. Removing distractions helps employees keep focused for longer periods of time. – ‘3 Ways To Keep Your Employees Focused & Productive’, Alexandra Kafka

The webinar covered the following aspects of distractions and strategies, applicable to all modes of working, and here are a few notes I took during the session and some of my own thoughts too, for what they’re worth:

How to minimise distractions when working from the office

• Distractions are not just affecting remote workers, it’s those in the office too
• Set aside time for focused work and block out time in your diary to manage the time others can book time with you or when they can expect a response from you
• Have a mechanism to indicate to colleagues who are also in the office that you are busy and not to be disturbed … and not just by wearing headphones
• Prevent ‘zoom fatigue’ by not bunching online meetings up against each other, either planning meetings with others or by not accepting meeting requests that don’t give you a break between the ones on either side
• Set aside time, as remote workers can and do, for focused work or time when you’re not available. This will manage expectations on how quickly you can and will respond. Stick to it, and ensure all team members understand and respect it
• Turn personal devices off, or minimise their intrusion into your daily activity (leave it in a coat pocket or bag, don’t have it on your person or on a desk where you can feel or see the notifications)

How to minimise distractions when working remotely or at home

• Have a dedicated workspace, one that you can close from the rest of the house. This also forms part of the end-of-day ritual, where you can close and ‘leave’ work. Consider also the morning & evening ‘commute’; have a walk at both ends of the working day which form the start and end of work.
• Typically people think remote workers are more distracted, but those remote or home workers tend to think of themselves as more focused or less distracted. Remote workers are more aware of distractions (phone, email, notifications, pets, family, postmen, neighbours, etc) and aware of the need to manage them and/or their awareness of them
• Make a more significant effort to take time away from the desk or screen, regular and meaningful breaks
• ‘Zoom fatigue’ (see above)
• FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out – for remote workers about what is happening in the office when they’re not there (and vice versa?)
• As above, leave personal devices and their notifications in a different place than where you’re working

Practical strategies to help you and your employees stay focused

• Company culture, leading to turnover or staff retention
• Helping staff to stay ahead with understanding and management of rising energy costs, wellbeing, personal lives, professional development, training, etc. The Pandemic has brought many more aspects of our personal lives into a work environment, whether it’s a remote working arrangement or an office-based one
• Reduce the need for unnecessary meetings, or at least manage the need for the meetings you have (and the appropriate attendance of those meetings)
• Implement a ‘no-meeting day’ across your team or business, and stick to it (senior managers, this means you!!)
• Consider a tech-free zone, or distraction-free zone, around your workspace (obviously, you’ll need your laptop, monitor, etc). Also leave mobile devices outside of the bedroom, thus removing the notifications or the temptation to check your social media accounts, etc at night.

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash