Is it possible to sort papers while having a conversation and give your employee (or family member or colleague or friend or . . .) the attention he or she needs to feel valued?
What is the emotional cost to the other person in the conversation when you multi-task?
Jump on over to my guest post on Get Organised, Multi-tasking the Tale of Two Leaders.
I’d love know your comments! What do you do when you find yourself in this situation – either as the multi-tasker or the one wanting the focused attention?
What questions do you have about multi-tasking? I’d love to answer them in my next post!
I’m a HUGE multi-tasker. But I also keep an eye out for signs from others that they need a bit more attention than I’m giving them. Then I drop it all and give them my full attention. I don’t really mind when others multitask while working with me – because I do it all the time, so I get it!
Kristen
So great that you can be in the moment enough while multi-tasking to notice if you need to stop and give your full attention. I, on the other hand, hate when I’m having a conversation with someone and they are multi-tasking!
Lisa
Multitasking is a very inefficient way to work because you waste a lot of time switching your “mental context” and regaining your focus after a distraction. This style of working is a lot like reading a couple of paragraphs from one book, then opening up another book and reading a couple of paragraphs from it, then opening up another book and so on.
Rachel –
I agree with you completely. Yet . . . so many people still do it! I’m hoping by showing all the ways multi-tasking is not “great” . . . someone, somewhere, will make some adjustments. Thanks for stopping by!
Lisa
I agree here Lisa,
Multi-Tasking is something that we should avoid if necessary. I think that there are some people who may be able to do it but the vast majority cannot and it will start to hinder the overall quality of your work. Similar to the idea to texting and driving, of course you are going to have an accident if you do it on a consistent basis.
Jason
Great example! I can’t even answer my phone while driving! :) I’m hoping as more people read my multi-tasking posts they will think twice about using this strategy. So many people state “multi-tasking isn’t good” – yet so many still do it!
Lisa