No, I Don’t Have a Minute
Full disclosure. I have only ever worked in open office environments. Even in the open office environment, I’ve observed both of myself and other colleagues that some environments have been far more conducive to deep work than others. What is deep work and why is it so important? Cal Newport, a professor, scientist, and author of “Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World” says that deep work is classified as ‘professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limits.’
In today’s work environment, deep work is up against constrained opportunities to make meaningful contributions, disregard for different work styles and motivations, and countless impediments of solving complex problems. Inability to recognize differences in work styles, output necessary to make meaningful contributions, and appropriate times for collaboration poses a serious threat to producing at the level of intensity and quality needed to achieve professional growth as well as company and customer outcomes. Basecamp CEO, Jason Fried, and Basecamp CTO, David Heinemeier Hansson recently authored “It Doesn’t Have to be Crazy at Work” and characterized the cost open offices have on workplace employees:
“Whoever managed to rebrand the typical open-place office — with all its noise, lack of privacy, and resulting interruptions — as something hip and modern deserves a damn medal from the Committee of Irritating Distractions. Such offices are great at one thing: packing in as many people as possible at the expense of the individual.”
Problem: Constrained Opportunity for Meaningful Contributions
We face an unrelenting reality of inundation from our phones, email, and social media to asynchronous communication tools in the workplace that has set an unspoken expectation for colleagues to be available 24/7 and respond instantaneously. There’s also the category of general office distractions. The infamous tap on the shoulder, followed by “do you have a minute?” (I’m guilty of this as well) that simply can’t be avoided. The benefit of having employees that are able to achieve not just breadth, but depth in their work has several implications for how the workplace is set up to foster an environment conducive to deep work. You can make better use of everyone’s time when presenting them with something more thoughtful than ad-hoc or scattered.
Problem: Disregarded Workstyles and Motivations
Getting the best work out of yourself and your colleagues means recognizing differences in workstyles not only individually, but also for teams to achieve at their peak collaboratively. In this excerpt of his book, Newport says, “To produce at your peak level you need to work for extended periods with full concentration on a single task free from distraction.” When we force everyone into a one-size-fits-all work environment, we ignore the opportunity to get the best work out of what could be more engaged employees. Frankly, it demands that we learn to notice and respect the need for an office environment and work styles that are most conducive to deep work. You can do this by taking a genuine interest in the type of work they’re doing, how they do it best and observe how that is interconnected to the quality produced.
Fried and Hansson also point out the implication disrespecting diverse work styles have on a team. “When sales or service people, who often need to be loud and jovial with those who need long stretches of quiet, you’re not only destroying productivity, you’re fomenting resentment.”
Problem: Blockers to Solving Complex Problems
Juxtaposed against doing work that is more shallow in nature, sharpening our ability to harness deep work both environmentally and individually as a skill is the difference between solving complex customer problems in a way that is truly meaningful, unique and company differentiating versus addressing customer needs similarly as your competitors. It is how you find yourself thinking “they stole my idea” instead of “we fundamentally changed the way customers can achieve their goals.” Begin investing time for yourself to re-think what it means to feel accomplished in your workday. Your current workload is a great starting place. Are the problems you’re solving today a collection of shallow problems eating away at the impact you could have from solving something more complex?
Deep Work Approach: Exploring Work Through the Lens of Design
Rather than thinking about the office as a place that employees need to go to do their work, what if we reframed the workplace as providing an environment conducive to employees doing their best work?
When considering how your organization might make decisions related to work environment-related problems, what new ideas could you come up with if you thought of your employees’ workspace in different ways? As a library or a co-working space? What if your office was like a bustling coffee shop versus the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange? How does this begin to spark new perspectives around how you look at making the work environment conducive to serving your customers and supporting the growth of your bottom line?
Inevitably, every organization will have working dynamics that are unique to their workforce. Before going all-in on making enormous investments to evolve your work environment for employees, prototype some of the solutions that your organization believes will deliver on the value of having a workspace that helps people achieve organization, professional, and personal development goals.
Want help exploring and prototyping ways to make deep work possible in your organization? Visit RGLR Consulting to learn about how we can work together.
