Make most of work so there's no need to stay late

By Dawn Sagario

I tallied the total number of interruptions encountered while writing this column — about 273. Distractions included answering the phone, hungrily checking e-mails and stopping to indulge in the hilarious rants of a podmate.

Productivity, no doubt, downshifted to a sluggish pace.

While trying to nimbly multitask my way through another workweek, I discovered from a March online survey by Microsoft Office that lack of productivity among workers, in general, can encompass a host of factors.

Vague objectives, inadequate team communication and ineffective meetings were among the top time-wasters that workers say contribute to them averaging only three productive days a week.

The survey of more than 38,000 workers in 200 countries also found that people in the United States are working an average of 45 hours a week; of that, 16 hours are considered unproductive.

Laura Stack, an author on workplace productivity, believes workers can be more productive and achieve goals within an eight-hour workday.

This happens by slowly changing work habits and refusing to participate in the company's cultural rules surrounding any "obligations" to work late, said Stack, CEO of The Productivity Pro Inc. in Highlands Ranch, Colo.

"I really encourage family values, and getting a life," she said. "And productivity is actually supporting that life balance."

Workers know full well what the top priorities are on their list of tasks to complete, she said. The problem is focusing on what needs to get done first, and seeing that task to completion with minimal distractions.

A good practice, she said, is deciding at day's end which things absolutely need to be accomplished the next day, and getting straight to work the next morning. Turn off e-mail alerts and check e-mail only after substantial progress is made on one task.

"We have to stop thinking about how many things we're checking off on our list," she said. "We're not measuring quantity, we're measuring value."

Also, try scheduling two specific times a day to return voicemails and e-mail, said Cindy Axne, personnel management program coordinator at the Iowa Department of Administrative Services. Doing such before lunch and at the end of the day can prompt a speedy response because those are the times people are trying to leave the office.

Stack said that depending on your workplace culture and the field of work, streamlining the day might include dealing with co-worker interruptions and unproductive meetings.

What a rambling and purposeless meeting needs is a leader who Ramon Greenwood calls the "benevolent dictator."

Greenwood, senior counselor at CommonSenseAtWork.com, suggests that executives take control of the meeting by sending an advance written agenda of what will be covered and how long the discussion will last, then providing the minutes within 24 hours after the meeting. "Good meetings," said Greenwood, "are not freewheeling exercises in Utopian democracy."

Seven tips from Greenwood:

• Don't hold a meeting unless absolutely necessary.

• If a meeting is necessary, find that benevolent dictator.

• State the purpose of the gathering by distributing in advance a written agenda and setting a time limit.

• Ensure that everyone's view is respectfully heard, but corral comments that stray from the purpose or are out of sequence.

• Ensure that only one discussion is going on at a time.

• At the meeting's conclusion, specify the next steps: assign tasks with specific deadlines, and make sure all are understood and agreed to.

• Send out minutes within 24 hours. The minutes will record decisions made and specific follow-up duties for individuals.

Stack also suggests tips for getting out of the office earlier:

• Start office meetings before 4 p.m., and schedule them to end by 4:30 p.m.

• Be assertive. Tell people that you need to leave at 5 p.m. because you have a commitment you have to stick to.

• Start small. Try to pick one day a week to leave work on time. That will automatically help you to be more productive on that specific day.

Dawn Sagario writes for The Des Moines (Iowa) Register.