It pays in productivity to have a clear objective — and a clear desk, writes Ann-Maree Moodie.
Going to work once meant a job that had defined hours, set meal breaks, specific tasks to be undertaken by each worker and a management hierarchy in which everyone knew their place.
Fast-forward to today and going to work means something quite different: hours dictated by the need for "visibility", lunch eaten at a desk in front of a computer, multitasking, hot-desking, flexitime and the constant distractions of meetings, emails and the vagaries of working in an "open office".
Stress, fatigue, lost productivity and staff turnover are common. This is an era when managers are expected to do more with less - fewer resources and less time - while still expected to perform to optimum standards. It's no wonder the new antidote is to embrace the concept of "workflow".
In order to stay healthy, positive and productive it is essential to be organised. But "workflow" is also about creating an ideal environment suited to an individual's role and expectations of productivity.
"The ultimate 'workflow' is to 'work in the flow', which means doing the work you have a clear purpose for and work that uses your talents and abilities," a career-management specialist and the managing director of Sydney-based Sympatico Coaching Practice, Annie Stewart, says.
The term "flow" also appears in the title of one of the books by positive psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention), to define the mental state in which a person is fully immersed in a feeling of energised focus, full involvement and success in the process of the activity. "Flow" is also colloquially known as being "on the ball", "in the moment", "present" or "in the zone".
"The hallmark of 'flow' is a feeling of satisfaction and fulfilment performing a task," Stewart says. "When you are 'working in the flow' there is an acceptance of the routine elements and drudgery it involves ... it is most likely to occur when one is wholeheartedly performing a task or activity for intrinsic purposes."
In order to create an environment in which "workflow" can occur, it is necessary to eliminate, manage and de-clutter the daily events that distract us.
There are various time-management techniques that can help: prioritising tasks for the day from the most important to those that would be "nice to get done"; setting aside specific times to check email; asking not to be copied in to emails that aren't necessary for you to read; leaving a clean desk at the end of the day; and restricting conference calls that require attendance at 3am unless you can come into the office late.
"But by far our biggest distraction is our untamed mind," Stewart says. "I refer to this as our 'monkey mind'. We're like a monkey jumping from branch to branch; from one distraction to another. Our mind is not fully attending to and listening to what is happening; it's back in the past or thinking about the future - everywhere but here and now."
Among the most common distractions nominated by Stewart's coaching clients are meetings - especially meetings that are poorly managed, meetings in which attendees don't feel "safe" to raise issues and meetings where it's permitted for attendees to constantly check their mobile phones for messages and emails.
"The way to combat constant distractions in the office is to develop a clear sense of purpose, vision, mission and values for yourself and your team or business unit," Stewart says. "This will provide a guidepost for deciding upon which battles to fight."
Making specific choices about what you'll do or not do based on whether the decision helps you achieve your purpose will undoubtedly mean two things: it will make you fearful (at least initially) and it will create an emotional response in others (probably a negative emotion such as frustration or anger).
"The impact of choosing not to fight a particular battle may require the manager to communicate clearly in order to manage perceptions and avoid fallout," Stewart says. "The manager should develop a confident attitude about the eight to 10 things he or she needs to be involved in. It follows that the manager must overcome any fear of ... not [being] included in everything that's going on."
Reflection time is also important in order to access what the unconscious mind has been working on to help find a solution to a problem, a more innovative way of doing something or another example of creative "workflow".
"Some of the great 'workflow' managers make the time for reflection and just sit with an agenda of 'nothing' for regular periods of time," Stewart says.
"So give yourself the time ... to pause and to reflect upon what is most important."
Ann-Maree Moodie is the managing director of The Boardroom Consulting Group.