Everyday interruptions at work can be a key barrier to managing your time effectively and, ultimately, can be a barrier to your success.  The working day can be hectic enough without regular interruptions from your co-workers, your email inbox, and the smartphone in your pocket.

If you have your own office, close your door to discourage interruptions when you have important work to do.  An “Open door policy” means only that people should be able to get your help (to open your door) when necessary.  An office door standing open invites people to stop and chat for a moment.  If it is closed, they assume that you are busy and think no more about it.

For those people who work in open plan environments, a closed door is not possible.  Arranging your work area or work station so your back is turned to people passing by lets them know you are concentrating on work but available if they have a pressing reason for interrupting you.  Find a system that works for your situation to set communicated and realistic boundaries, yet provides reasonable accessibility.  The development of a signal amongst your co-workers lets them know you don’t wish to be disturbed.  This could be the placement of an item on your desk or hanging a scarf over the end of your workstation.  A simple technique is to just tell people the times you prefer to be available to them or to return calls.  Remember, if you are not working on your priorities, you are probably working on someone else’s priorities.

If you answer your own telephone, don’t let it control you.  Put it on Do Not Disturb and allow your voicemail to pick up messages if you are in the middle of focused work.  You can return the calls when you have completed your imperative and important activities.

If you have a receptionist or assistant who answers your telephone, ask them to hold your calls and give your messages to you all at one time.  Reserve a particular time during the morning and again during the afternoon to return all telephone calls.  Train this person how to recognise important calls that should be put through immediately and how to handle other callers politely whilst still protecting your time.

If you found these tips helpful, please check out our FREE LMA resources available here to download.  These resources cover a range of procedures from team work analysis to communication, leadership and productivity.

Change is an essential part of any healthy business. If a business is to progress and evolve you have to be willing to embrace change. However, a period of transition inevitably brings with it numerous challenges, not least of these are the “people issues.”

As a leader, one of the most difficult aspects of working through change is managing the human side of the business. Let’s face it, most people are resistant to change. Change can bring about doubt, fear and indecision – any of which is enough paralyse your team.

One of the keys to successfully navigating any period of change is ensuring that the human side of the business is properly prepared and managed and there are several ways you can do this.

Make clear the reasons for the change

Not understanding the reasons for the change is one of the quickest ways to ruin motivation. If your business is going through a transformation, make sure that everyone understands why it’s happening and what to expect in terms of outcomes, benefits and challenges. If your people have to work through a period of disruption, they are less like to become frustrated or disillusioned if they have a clear understanding of the reasons behind the changes.

Make sure people know how they will be affected

When faced with changes at work, most people will immediately think “How will this affect me?” However, few people will actually come straight out and ask that question. Take the time to explain to the people how it will affect them, rather than focusing solely on how it will affect the business.

Two-way communication

As with any aspect of people management, communication will be the make-or-break factor in keeping your team motivated. However, clearly explaining the reasons for the change and how your people will be affected is just the beginning. Provide regular updates on how the project is progressing and check in with your people to find out how they are coping. Remember that new questions and concerns will continually emerge as the project progresses. Make sure that these are regularly and promptly addressed.

Be honest

Never try to sell a negative change as a positive one. Chances are your employees will immediately see through the spin, resent you for it and be less inclined to buy in to the change. If the change is negative, be honest about the reasons for it and the necessity of it. If the change will have short-term negative effects that will ultimately lead to a positive end result, be up front about that too. If the changes will negatively affect a particular department more than others, you should acknowledge this. Hearing the truth up front and from leadership is better than finding out that something has been concealed.

Make room for individuals

Remember that people are all different. If you’re making significant organisational changes there is no single timeline for getting people on board. Some will understand the reasons and start working towards those ends almost immediately, while others may take some time to come around to the merits of the project. Give people the time, the freedom and the resources they need to come to terms with the changes. Make note of the people who are struggling and help them where you can.

Be aware that it’s likely that you will not bring everyone around. There will always be those resistant to change and wedded to the old processes who will – consciously or unconsciously – work to undermine the changes. Make sure that these destructive attitudes are not allowed to take root. Discuss the issues with these people and don’t be afraid to be direct

As companies grow, adapt and evolve your workplace culture will have to change with it.

While culture will, to a degree, always evolve organically, it’s a mistake to believe that it is too complex to be managed. Culture itself cannot be penned in or subjected to rigorous regulation; it can, however, be directed and encouraged, trained to grow in a desired direction.

If you are directing cultural change or trying to guide organic change there are five steps you can take to ensure the culture you end up with is best for your employees and most closely aligned with your organisational vision and structure.

Evaluate your current culture

The first step to managing cultural change should always be evaluating your existing culture. Quantitatively evaluate your current culture – find out what your employees believe your organisational values are and how successfully the organisation is conveying those values. This will help you to determine how much change is required and in what areas.

Align culture and business strategy

Clarify your business strategy and ensure that the cultural change is aligned with the business direction, vision and principles. Understand how the change will be reflected across the business including in formal structures, reporting, training, recruiting etc.

Understand why the cultural change is necessary. This will help to focus the process, understand the desired outcomes and create a workable path to achieve those outcomes.

Engage your employees

Change cannot happen without the involved and informed participation of people from across the organisation. It’s crucial that those involved understand the reasons for the change and the desired outcomes. Trying to change company behaviour or values without explaining why it’s important or what you hope to achieve by it will be a losing battle.

Encourage participation and input from as many people in the organisation as possible. Different viewpoints from across departments and business levels will ensure that everyone has a voice and that people across the organisation understand and are prepared for the changes.

However, while multiple diverse viewpoints are great, make sure that you maintain a specific team responsible for managing the change who are able to make timely and clear decisions to prevent an ambiguous vision or delay key actions.

Communicate and demonstrate changes

Continuous communication at all levels is necessary during the change process. Repeat your message much more often than you think is necessary. Most leaders greatly underestimate how many repetitions it takes for a message to sink in. Ensure that leaders across the business are champions for the change and that they are engaging in role model appropriate behaviour. Live the change through your words and actions so that employees can see the change in action.

Manage responses and evaluate progress

Employee responses during periods of change will often be driven by emotion. Being aware of and managing these responses can help to ease the transition process and eventually help to settle the change into the cultural DNA. Manage the anxiety, points of frustration, and need for emotional regulation that can naturally arise at critical points in a culture change.

Take time to evaluate how the change is progressing. Get feedback from your employees, assess the painpoints and refine the strategy as necessary. Pay particular attention to business performance, critical behaviours, milestones, feelings and mind-sets.

Assigning tasks to the staff members best suited makes sense – you’re playing to an employee’s strengths and you can reliably expect quality results. However, having people perform the same duties can get tedious and boredom and repetition are productivity killers.

Where possible, look to break the routine. Share job responsibilities between team members and look to introduce new roles where possible. Giving your team the chance to take on new challenges, learn new skills and fill gaps in their knowledge will help to keep them engaged and productive.

Give employees the chance to share their skills and experiences or to mentor less experienced staff. Not only is this a great way to upskill your team but it can also help to foster relationships between team members and boost morale – all of which are great for productivity.

Upskilling your team has the added benefits of driving employee retention as well as adding depth to your team’s skill set.

Office life can all too quickly fall into a tedious routine, especially for those desk-bound team members. Make an effort to break up the routine across the office. Change up when and where regular meetings take place. Where possible offer flexible work hours or work from home incentives. Make breaking the routine a focus of company culture and discuss with your team to find out what they would like to do to change things up.

Breaking the routine can help to keep people engaged and interested and that will flow through to productivity.