Have You Got a Minute?



Learn Management Articles on management-info.biz. Have You Got a Minute? article will help answer your questions on Management Articles.We at management-info.biz specialize in Management Articles. Management Articles at management-info.biz provides the most up to date news and articles. If you have questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

Such an innocuous little phrase, yet when you are hard at work, really focused and engrossed in what you are doing this seemingly harmless request can be a nightmare distraction.

“The average American has 50 interruptions a day, of which 70% have nothing to do with work” W. Edwards Deming

Interruptions are on of the main time stealers that get in the way of productivity. Whether it is phone, email or person generated, have you got a minute? can really break your concentration, affect your mood and make you feel irritated and frustrated.

Have you got a minute can so easily turn into 5, 15 or even 30 minutes and suddenly your day is behind schedule but, remember you let it happen. However, the good news is that it is within your control to do something about it. You can stop or at least manage these situations
Here are my top 5 tips for managing interruptions

1.If you work in your own office – close the door and put a notice on the outside saying please do not disturb until 2.30pm (or whatever time you will be finished doing what you are doing)
2.If you work in an open plan office, put a note on your desk or on top of your PC saying I need to concentrate, please do not disturb , then take it down when you are finished
3.If you need to have uninterrupted time each day, switch off your phone, close down your email and let your colleagues, boss and team know that for example, you do not want to be interrupted, plan meetings, chat etc every day between 8.30 and 9am
4.In response to the Have you got a minute? You can say
a.No
b.Not at the moment but if you come back in 30 minute I will have
c.I have a maximum of 5 minutes. What specifically do you want to speak to me about and is 5 minutes enough? If so go ahead. If not, suggest a more convenient time
d.Tell me what you specifically want to talk to me about and then I’ll tell you whether now is a good time to discuss it
5.Educate your colleagues, team, boss to do all of the above and respect their wishes too. This helps create good habits all round


Article Index: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81



More Articles:


1. Stop Going to Meetings - 10 Questions to Ask Before Attending a Meeting - Get More Productive By Neen James
We get invited to attend so many "meetings" but do we need to attend them all? Use these 10 questions to assess if you should attend that next meeting invitation.What is the agenda of the meeting? Don’t attend a meeting without a clear agenda otherwise you are wasting time. Don’t ever schedule a meeting unless you make it clear to your attendees what the purpose, timeframe and outcomes of the meeting will be.Who is attending the meeting? Ask the question to ensure the meeting set at the right…

2. Check Your Communication Skills By Steve Kaye
Use this check list to assess your communication skills.Focus* Do you pay complete attention to others when they are speaking? (A wandering focus discourages open communication.)* Do you manage your thoughts during a conversation, focusing them on understanding what the other person is saying? (Effective listening requires more concentration than any other form of communication. If you are thinking about anything other than what the person is saying, you are defeating your ability to unde…

3. Decisions, Decisions By Julane Borth
Thirty years ago, Jerry Harvey, a professor at George Washington University told a true story about an incident that occurred when he and his wife visited his in-laws in Texas one summer. On a scorching August afternoon, they were enjoying a game of dominoes and cold lemonade on a shady porch when Professor Harvey’s father-in-law suggested that they drive to Abilene and have lunch in the cafeteria. Harvey later explained that he thought it was a crazy idea, but he didn’t want to spoil everyo…

4. Reviewing Your Performance
So you've made it through your first year. When you quit your job, you probably thought you'd escaped performance reviews for good, but I've got some bad news for you. It's actually a really good idea to review your performance at your own company, to take a look back and see what you did wrong and what you did right. Did You Make a Profit or a Loss? The first, and most important, question to answer is this: what does your balance sheet look like? You need to honestly add up all the numbers -- d…