Multitasking

There’s been a lot of nonsense going around about “multitasking” and the “pros and cons” of it. Really? Am I missing something? To me the “multitasking” vs. “unitasking” debate is like debating “which is better, black or white?” It’s not just a matter of taste or personal preference but depends largely on circumstances, application, and environment. That there is some sort of controversy on this subject did get me to stop and compile my thoughts on multitasking

The first thing I perceived was a wide variation in the meaning of the term multitasking from one person to another. So, I googled the definitions of “multi,” “task,” and “multitasking.” The definition of multitasking, derived from the three, wasn’t any big surprise to me. However, I do wonder about a multitude of people out there that seem to think otherwise. The definition as compiled from online dictionaries:

multitasking - the handling of more than one piece of work at a time

Using this definition, I would submit that we could take several categories of complaints about multitasking off the table. If someone is texting their buddies in the middle of a business conversation, that is not multitasking. He isn’t handling a piece of work by texting. If your employee is on facebook while she’s processing forms at her desk, that is not multitasking because facebook is entertainment not work. Doing anything that is not work while at work isn’t multitasking and isn’t ethical if it distracts from getting your job done. That is a judgement call, If the individual lacks the proper judgement (or self discipline) to keep their distractions in check, the boss needs to make it for them. It is not an issue of multitasking.

Prime example of a multitasker.

I would like to begin with a fairly universal example of multitasking, the mother/homemaker/housewife. The sheer volume of tasks combined with the constant demands of child rearing leaves little room for the “unitask” model of work. Even when she appears to be “just” sitting with the kids to color in the coloring books, she may be planning naps and lunch in her head. She’ll pile all the kids in the car (babysitting) while she heads to the grocery store (shopping), stopping at the bank drive-thru (errands) to make a transaction along the way (driving). I won’t include, talking on the phone, passing snacks to the back of the car, and adjusting the car stereo to play the kids favorite Raffi tune because that’s “distracted driving” and we don’t want that now do we? Screaming kids in the car is far less distracting! If you don’t buy that as multitasking, consider dinner prep. A load of laundry started, children set-up with a distracting activity, and cleaning the kitchen while preparing dinner (all the while on the phone with a friend planning tomorrow’s playdate) has got to qualify. My point? Multitasking is a fact of life and not necessarily a leadership “option.”

It’s Personal.

Individual personality traits seem to me to play an important role in the strength of multitasking. Some are able to concentrate on more than one idea at a sitting and others can’t. Some get lost in thought about one idea where another may leap from one subject to another without losing their train of thought on any given subject. My father-in-law would be reading the newspaper while my mother-in-law would be balancing the checkbook. She would call out numbers and he would do the addition or subtraction in his head, call back the appropriate answer, and continue to read the paper. If my wife, on the other hand, is balancing the checkbook, she’ll need a calculator and don’t interrupt her.

One’s sensibilities can come into play as well. I will avoid multitasking when having a conversation because it’s rude. If I’m in a meeting and the subject doesn’t require my full attention, I will conduct other business so long as it isn’t distracting or disruptive to the rest of the group. Just because you can multitask doesn’t mean you should. However, having colleagues waste my time in an inane and unstructured meeting means I may need to multitask during my attendance.

Work ethic or wiring?

In my younger, and considerably less wiser, days, I passed off the hue and cry over “too much work” as a lack of proper work ethic. I figured they just needed to get organized or maybe they were just too lazy to do the work. To my way of thinking it was a waste of time to stand at the copier until all 200 copies printed (I wasn’t sharing a copier with a large office). I would start the copier printing and leave to knock out a couple more tasks.

I figured out as the years passed that some people are physically lazy, some mentally lazy, and some are just wired differently than I am. If the work ethic isn’t the issue then it’s likely a difference in wiring and is part of the difference between the cow pony and plow horse, in My Horse Barn Analogy.

On a personal note, my wiring can prohibit me from sticking to one task. Often times I have to have time to process information. I may switch to rote tasks that require very little concentration while I mull things over in my head. If I had to sit and write these blog posts start to finish without intervening tasks, it would take significantly longer computer time and not have the same content quality (assuming of course that there is any quality).

Supervisor assistance.

As a supervisor, you need to know the when, where, and how much each of your team members have in the way of tasks. You may have to adjust duties or workloads based on the abilities of the individual but that should be a temporary fix. Each team member needs to be fully competent member handling their fair share. If the job requires multitasking, they need to master it whether they’re wired that way or not. Additional training and improved job knowledge are ways to aid job experience in building competency and making the team member comfortable in handling the tasks simultaneously.

Job related.

To say, as some sort of “research” has indicated, that multitasking reduces your brain power to that of an 8 year old or the equivalent of a “stoner” is nonsense. There are a large number of college students working their way through college as restaurant servers. Most of the servers I’ve worked with over the years were very bright and the server has to multitask the entire shift. They do it all while stopping briefly to text a friend(s), tweet, instagram, check facebook, or surf the web on their phone.  

A brain surgeon, on the other hand, should stay focused on the task at hand since I’m sure there’s variety enough involved in that “unitask.” Even though he may not be emailing in the middle of surgery, the job itself requires the monitoring on many variables at the same time.  

I have had a job where it only required focus on one task and there was little to no opportunity for performing any other functions. Two summers, I spent out with the migrant farm workers picking tomatoes. Lift the vine over to expose the tomatoes, pick the tomatoes into a bucket, take the full bucket to the cart, empty the bucket, return to the row of vines and repeat the process. At 21 cents a bucket, I made less than $8 a day and hated every minute. I don’t think my brain was operating any more efficiently by staying focused on one task.

Boss’s job

The amount of work assigned should match the worker’s capability. Unfortunately, the boss doesn’t typically have the luxury of keeping the workload that low (did I just say that outloud?). Everyone needs to pull their weight and it’s the boss’s job to ensure they do but there are ways to optimize each member’s strengths to maximize the team’s performance.

If there is an outcry, however subtle, why would you ignore it? There’s a reason your people might be upset. It could be over tasking or simply too many interruptions. You shouldn’t blow off complaints because they typically stem from something. Dig a little deeper, it may be that someone was making headway on a project and was handed a basketful of tasks with a tight deadline. It always yanked my chain hard when a boss did that to me.

Why waste your time and energy?

The debate over “multitasking" is as silly, to my way of thinking, as the debate over whether leaders are made or born that way. We learn, apply, and perform. If we maximize all three we typically excel beyond anyone’s expectations. Don’t argue the point but listen politely and then press ahead to the next task(s).