Coachee: Hello, Coach!
Coach: Hi there! How are you?
Coachee: I am doing good. I have a question on how I can get my people's undivided attention. People
multitask, and it delays the project's progress. What do you suggest?
Trainer (Coach put on trainer's hat): Great question. I want to share my thought on this subject,
and then we can go from there.
Before deep-diving into multitasking, I want to clarify the difference between multitasking and
task-switching. For all practical purposes, the latter is the lesser evil between multitasking and
task-switching. Generally, task-switching impacts productivity; however, multitasking impacts
learning. Sometimes, we all have to juggle (task-switching) between tasks to address competing
priorities, resource constraints, etc. It is acceptable, especially when dealing with rapid change
in technology, business, customer expectations, etc.
However, I appreciate your question about multitasking and would like to deep dive into the topic
below.
Why do people multitask?
1. They don't find the task quite interesting
2. They have different priorities, e.g. they are doing task A while they have to deliver task B
asap.
3. Other reasons, etc.
What can we do about these reasons above? Thoughts?
Are they not paying enough attention to the task because they find it boring? Or probably, they are
not
driven by any purpose and don't have a solid reason for the task. Can we help our people to find
their
purpose? Would that make the tasks exciting?
It boils down to helping the employees find the purpose in their work. We all may have experienced
how
engrossed we can become in the acts that we love, such as playing our favourite sports, reading a
book,
solving an exciting puzzle, etc. We call label those times "being in the moment." It is in those
times
that multitasking has no place. Time almost stops for all of us in those moments.
The individual transformation from "doing the act" --> "being in the act" -->" becoming the act"
should be natural. However, it isn't so. We all have to work against obstacles such as judgement,
self-doubts, assumptions, limiting thoughts, etc.
How can we help individuals move from the "doing the act" state to "becoming the act"? What will
this individual transformation journey look like?
Coachee: Thanks for the detailed view. I have more questions now? How can we help
individuals/teams/organizations in their transformation journey?
Coach (Trainer putting on coach's hat): Sure. Let's discuss this in our next coaching session.
Coachee: Sure. Thanks