An expectation of immediate response has become the new norm in so many businesses, with many employees saying that they feel pressure to respond right away on instant messaging tools. Yet in many cases a response is not really needed immediately. Todays workplace has changed significantly in the past decade, technological advances mean that real-time communication is part of the normal regular day for many employees and business owners.

Yet at the same time we are facing constant distractions, an inability to perform deep work, rising stress and declining mental health. The core issue is that finding a block of time to dedicate to a task, to a problem or to work itself is becoming rarer and rarer. Typically, the working day has moments of work that are separated by constant distractions.

It is time to take control of your day. There are moves that you can take with your team to enable calmness, peace of mind and focus. This can replace the digital chaos that everyone is becoming accustomed to. Time is not an infinite resource and there are definitely only limited effective work hours in each working day. Once you have lost the hours you are not able to reclaim them and this will only result in ongoing work pressure.

There are some simple measures that the modern employer of today are beginning to implement to try and encourage a more productive workplace. Each team member should be encouraged to reduce or even eliminate all notifications on their phones, computers and other devices except for what is absolutely necessary. Encourage your team to switch off regularly particularly when you need to focus. This has the same effect as closing the office door so that you are not interrupted and it is amazing just how more productive you can be if you need to focus on a complex issue.

Try responding to emails to acknowledge the receipt of the email but in the reply set a time frame for your response if it involves you having to provide information that is not a simple response. By doing that you can set a block of time each day to deal with email responses rather than segmenting your day. Often it is best to actually talk with someone rather than to email and text back and forth as you get a clearer understanding that they are understanding your communication.

At Muntz Partners we focus on helping clients find their pathway to success, for more information on our range of services click here feel free to contact our team on (08) 9392 7600 or email us at enquiries@muntzpartners.com.au