Just recently, another article was published touting the negative consequences of the famed "open door" policy at work. One feels sort of nostalgic reading this piece as the author defends the return of the traditional door at the entrance to traditional offices.
Imagine that!
Cal Newport surely believes in the concept of a closed door office as it is more likely a contributor to focused work. In his book Deep Work, Newport states,
“Efforts to deepen your focus will struggle if you don’t simultaneously wean your mind from a dependence on distraction.”
All of this is to defend the commodity of clear thinking and focused labor. Safe to say, most of us have forgotten how luxurious those states can be since much of the modern workplace is broken.
There, I said it- broken as in busted and messed up.
I should know and I'm partly guilty of promoting a broken workplace. Until recently, I spent much of my career in schedules that were chopped up into bits of time that no human could actually enjoy. The meetings alone were enough to make you insane. The open spaces? Mostly a distraction.
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Open spaces don't promote more collaboration. They promote a lack of focus and more small talk than you can shake a stick at.
How do you know if your workplace is broken and in need of fixing? Here are seven telltale signs:
- The open door policy is king. Getting work done should be king, not access to talk your ear off. Yes, we should be cordial but most things don't require that you interrupt someone else.
- Meetings abound. Meetings are necessary but probably fewer than most workplaces allow. Most meetings can be substituted with an email, memo or brief Skype chat.
- People come in on the weekend because that's the only time when you can actually get things done. You know what I'm talking about with this one and it's got to stop.
- The most common phrase is, "You got a minute?" This implies that whatever you were doing is not as important as the conversation that's about to happen. Not a good sign.
- No one around reads your verbal cues that you need to get work done. A closed door, a head bowed in concentration, a focused look on your face- each should tell someone else that you are trying to work. Sadly, too many people do not read these important physical cues.
- Others walk in on you when you're on a call and expect that you talk to them, right then and there. This may be the most egregious violation of them all.
- People are tired all of the time. This is where the real danger shows up as your physical health starts to deteriorate as a result of what may be a broken workplace. This can't be an acceptable outcome of a distraction-rich environment.
This post is not meant to provide seven simple solutions to the signs listed above. Rather, it's meant to help you take an inventory of what's around you.
Is your workplace totally broken?
Is it partially broken?
Do you have some colleagues who need to be reminded that you actually have work that needs to get done?
The good news is that you can change each of these signs. In my experience, I was unable to change my entire workplace culture on my own. I needed allies around me who bought into the idea of focused work. Only when people got fed up with interruptions and senseless meetings did they realize that deep work was the holy grail of their productivity.