Everyone faces distractions at work. Very seldom do any of us ever enjoy the luxury of eight to nine solid hours to dedicate to focusing on priorities and projects without something coming up to draw our attention elsewhere.
Maybe it’s a phone call from school to let you know your child is sick; maybe it’s your significant other calling to vent about some frustration; maybe it’s a co-worker who’s just in the mood to chit-chat about the latest reality TV show. Or maybe it’s self-inflicted distraction as you find yourself day-dreaming about that long awaited vacation that’s just around the corner.
These types of distractions are common, but also typically easy to deal with. You make arrangements for the sick child, your listen to the venting, you politely break away from the conversation with the co-worker, or you tell yourself if you can just focus for a few more days that vacation will be here soon enough. You do what you need to do and soon after return to the task at hand.
But what happens when you’re faced with a distraction that’s not quite so easy to deal with? What happens when it’s a more major crisis in your life, or even a series of significant distractions that all but sap any hope for concentration you might have?
I was faced with this kind of distraction a few months back. It came at a time of year that usually leaves me a bit melancholy anyway; as the long, warm, busy days of summer transitioned into the cooler, more mellow days of fall and winter, I found myself facing a particularly difficult time with an unexpected brief illness and subsequent death in my family. And because I have been very fortunate in my life to not have had to face many experiences like this, the loss hit me
hard.
During this time, there were days that I found myself struggling to focus on much of anything, nonetheless work. For the most part, I was able to accomplish what I needed to do to get by – but there were days when more than that was just not possible. Sometimes that meant finding busy work to make the hours pass. Sometimes it meant leaving the office and taking a book to Starbucks for a coffee and a 30 minutes of reading to force my mind to focus on something.
As time went on, I was able to start powering through and get myself back on track, but it led me to wonder if there was a better way? Were there any tricks I was missing, any secrets to pushing past the distraction?
Beyond that, it made me contemplate how do we as HR professionals and managers help our employees through their distractions? Every day, around us there are likely numerous employees who are attempting to deal with their own personal struggles, some of whom may be very good at hiding that fact. How do we recognize the signs and support them through it?
What about you? How do you manage your distractions when faced with them? How do you get yourself back on track? And how do you help those around you manage theirs?
About the author: Jennifer Payne, SPHR is experienced in employee relations, employment/staffing and training & development. She currently works in talent management in the retail grocery industry and is honored to be in the company of such talented and seasoned Women of HR bloggers. Jen is a fan of happy hours, hockey, traveling and connecting with interesting people. You can connect with her on Twitter as @JennyJensHR and on LinkedIn as Jennifer Payne, SPHR.
Photo credit iStockphoto
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Thank you for this thoughtful piece Jennifer. I suggest that handling day-to-day distractions is very different from dealing with major loss. Bereavement is a process, and one that takes time. Some years back, I worked as an interim HR Manager at a famous university. A popular young researcher died while I was there. The following week, a succession of colleagues rang or visited me ostensibly to discuss practicalities such as her pension, successor etc. However, what they really wanted was a listening ear for their grief. In a previous career as a social worker, I did a module on Loss in my training – it has made a huge difference to my life and, I hope, to the way I deal with others facing loss.