Down with Multi-Tasking!

by Coachcubas

July 18, 2006

By Michelle Cubas, Enterprise Business Coach, Positive Potentials LLC

Multi-tasking is plate spinning. It is not the same as sequencing and planning the next step. It is an attempt to conduct several tasks simultaneously without focusing on a desired outcome from any one task. It is a selfish, greedy approach to get blood from a stone. It is used to intimidate people. It speaks of a lack of respect denoting that anyone can do the job. It’s a morale buster, reeking of the unspoken, “If-you-don’t-someone-else-will-attitude.”

Multi-tasking can be a distraction from issues and real challenges within the company.
No one wants to admit the emperor is naked.

• It undermines completion and analysis.
• It promotes interruptions.
• It ruins accuracy and, oops, causes rework.
• It corrodes budgets.

Consider the image of the plate twirlers from the carnival. The twirler begins with one plate, sets it in motion then starts up another one. By the end of the act, several plates are spinning. BUT, one must ask, “To what end?” The spinning plates don’t create a manageable outcome. They come crashing to the ground unless each one is approached and stopped individually. In my business coaching practice, I ask, “So what?” and “For what?” of my clients’ work. All

Insert the plate-spinning scenario into a work group or small business. Consider the chaos that is created in attempting to keep the plates spinning without understanding why. Another example is the small business leader, often an entrepreneur, who attempts to do every task solo thinking money is saved in so doing.

(Buzzer sounds!) Wrong answer. The learning curve is often steeper than any savings benefit minus the expert factor of someone trained and experienced to perform that task like a bookkeeper.

Larger companies chase this same cost-saving myth. After laying off a third of the work force, the remaining souls have to assume their own positions, plus at least one to two other jobs. Unfortunately, they were not hired to do the other jobs. The fallacy in this quandary is that if anyone complains, they, too, get the ax. There is no room to negotiate how to spread the work load around. The only balanced distribution is that everyone is suffering the same fate.

I experienced this double-edged sword, which created intense daily stress for me attempting to keep the plates spinning. Here’s the recipe for chaos that led to my voluntary resignation to start my own company (to be sung to 12 days of Christmas!): two trade shows, one sales meeting event, channel marketing materials, video production, package design, copywriting, print and outside vendor management, two product launches (and all associated materials, sales sheets), constant sabotage from the manager and director, lack of communication (need-to-know basis only) and cross training with the other team members led to total exhaustion and the excising of my gall bladder from the stress!

Companies Must Promote Focus
There is hope for civility and prosperity to return to the workplace from the shop floor to the senior management floor.

Everyone benefits when people can focus:
• Avoid burnout
• Attain greater job satisfaction
• Achieve an actual outcome; not just another loose end to follow up
• No false rush-to-wait situation.
• No super person is required because there is a reasonable pace and expectations.
• Avoids fire stomping as a management style.

Successful teams blossom in environments that nurture quality and personal pride for a job well:
1. Time for what matters
2. Realistic planning
3. Sequential thinking and analysis
4. Defined priorities
5. Time and space for managers to manage.

Don’t despair. All is not lost in multi-tasking land.
Here are five strategies for successful work environments:
1. Provide clear objectives and expectations to everyone involved with your project.
2. Define the originators of the project and learn their agenda for why this project is being done.
3. Who is going to look good at the finish? What are their roles in the project? How can you reach them?
4. Provide tools and resources within a realistic time frame to accomplish the goals.
5. Evaluate the outcome for future learning within the organization.

Michelle Cubas shares this thought in her seminars, “A for-the-good-of-the-house-attitude fuels persistence and courage to ask the hard questions. It generates pride and belonging to something larger than oneself. I herald the call to untie the workers’ hands, and be delighted to move your company, business or organization from mediocre to a masterpiece.”

http://feeds2.feedburner.com/blogspot/qDYb
c7e4232e6ad5e385652b43c83aeae033-1331863127

Coachcubas

As a credentialed business coach and analyst, one of my primary functions is to work with individuals and company managers to clarify where they are presently, where they would like to advance, and what tools they have and need to achieve their desired outcome.

I use a variety of tools to assess perceptions including Platinum Rule instruments, my experience and training in assessing behavior. My preferred tool is the EQ-i®, emotional intelligence inventory. I have specialized training on the EQ-i® and DISC Inventories and access to multiple other sources including a company culture index. I prefer the EQ-i® because it is the least judgmental instrument I have found. It focuses on strengths and areas of development related to the goals set by the individual. For example, people are more likely to apply the EQ-i®’s information rather than label themselves by the Myers-Briggs categories.