Is Multitasking Essential to Survive in Today's Business World?

The ability to do multiple tasks at one shot is considered virtue in this hectic business culture. The concept of multitasking is increased productivity and ability to accomplish more work with very few team players. Someone who can stay on top of multiple projects with interruption caused by a ringing telephone, beeping email inbox, and annoying chatty co-workers, is believed to be the archetypal worker bee. How is dividing up one's time between ten tasks better than concentrating on just one? The short answer is: it's not.

Let’s examine the perceived versus the actual effects of multitasking:

Perception: Multitaskers Get More Work Done

Reality: Multitaskers LOOK like they're getting more work done. As they fly around the office from one project to the next, it certainly appears as though they have an awful lot to do. To some, this might even make the multitasker look more important than the methodical, focused worker who is simply sitting behind her desk.

Appearances can be deceiving, however, and the multitasking Tasmanian devil is not nearly as likely as the focused worker to get the job done right and on time.

Perception: Multitaskers Increase Productivity

Reality: Working on ten projects at once rather than one might seem more productive until you think critically about it. The quality of work performed by a diligent and focused professional is bound to be better than a professional stretched too thin among several projects.

The time spent correcting, revising, or redoing a substandard project detracts directly from overall productivity. Anyone who has ever said, "I could have done the job quicker if I had just done it myself," knows exactly what I mean.

When we are not permitted to focus on the task at hand, details become the casualties. And it's the details, the small things, that make the difference today. Missing the small things may very well lose your company a bid, and there's nothing productive about that.

Perception: Multitaskers Are More Capable Workers

Reality: There ARE some employees who can juggle multiple projects well and consistently turn in good work. But they are few and far between. And they're probably stressed, unhappy with their jobs, and looking for some way to get balance in their lives. (It's no coincidence that "balance" is another of today's corporate buzzwords.)

Doing several things at once does not make someone more capable. It makes them more stressed. And stress leads to a higher number of sick and vacation days, lower employee morale, and increased job turnover. You may want the whirlwind employee who multitasks ten hours a day and fizzles out in less than a year. I'll take the steady employee who is with me for a decade.

By now you might be thinking, "Ok, you're right. But what you are saying is not realistic. I am forced to multitask because there are so many things going on in my office."

I agree, to an extent. We ARE very busy, and many of us take pride in being very hard workers. But we bring much of our "busy-ness" on ourselves. A simple time management plan is all you need to bring focus back to your work day.

Here are a few tips:

• Set strict times at which you will check email. Perhaps check it once when you get in, once midday, and once about an hour before you leave. Don't allow a project to be disrupted by the urge to check your incoming mail.
• Let it go to voicemail. There is no rule out there that says you absolutely have to answer the phone when it rings. You can get the message later and return all your calls at a time that you set for yourself.
• List projects in order of importance and start at the top. Resist the temptation to work on less important, albeit easier projects.
• Spread your to-do list over the course of the week. Rather than having a list twenty items long and checking them off when you manage to get to them, have five days with four projects apiece. Your blood pressure will thank you for it.

Multitasking may be the latest buzzword, but that doesn't mean you have to fall for it. Let the experts spout what they want; pretty soon, a new trend will appear that they can hail as the next way to squeeze more productivity out of an over-worked work force. You'll outlive the trend and beat the competition if you commit to focusing on the task at hand and getting the job done right the first time around.