Is it time to activate your banana?
A current BBC news video tells of civil service bosses in Tyneside who have introduced a ‘clean desk’ policy. The purpose behind it is to improve service to the public, but it has infuriated unions and demotivated staff. One employee was asked if the banana on his desk was active or inactive.
When you treat employees like children don’t be surprised when they begin to behave like children. Employees learn what they live.
The Policy
Employees have been ordered to put tape around certain permanent items on their desks like keyboard, mouse and telephone. Anything without a taped frame must be put away unless it is actually ‘active’. In this way they believe employees will not be distracted by inactive items on their desk and therefore will be able to focus on current active work. The consultant in the video considers this to be only an ‘ever so slight extreme’; maybe she is being kind. It is far worse than this. It is symbolic of the relationship between employees and bosses, and damages whatever good relations there might be.
It is clear that whoever is behind this policy knows nothing about distraction and focus. The result of this ignorance, as is often the case, is to alienate employees. The implication is that employees are unable to resist distraction, and so must be forced into doing so by stupid and childish orders. I imagine that many employees on the receiving end feel they are being treated like children.
So how do you prevent distraction?
When you are distracted from your work it is more likely that the work itself is not engaging, and so the unconscious mind looks for something more interesting to do. This will happen regardless of the clutter on your desk. In order to focus there must be some intrinsic motivational value in the work you are doing. This is nothing new – any management student who has studied Maslow and Hertzberg will understand this. What is ridiculous though is the idea that a tidy desk will lead to better customer service.
In reality, people who are obsessed with tidying desks are usually the ones who have disorganised minds. They are the forgetful ones, and because they don’t know how to better organise their minds they waste time organising things. In my experience the people with the most organised minds have the untidiest desks – yet they know exactly where things are when they need them.
So what’s the answer?
We have spent many years helping people to reorganise their thinking. The tools to do this are freely available today on personal development programmes such as the RealSuccess Programme. We use a particularly effective technique we call ‘Orange Circle Thinking’. If you are losing focus and being easily distracted you need to look at the relationship you have with your work. If you are not enjoying your work, or if you feel that your effort is not making a difference to the bigger picture, then no amount of tidying is going to help. You have to look at the value in work, and the responsibility people have to make decisions. When these factors are low then distractions will be welcomed.
Where can you learn to focus and resist distraction?
You can learn this on any of our open programmes, or engage a coach to help you. But there is also another factor to take into account. Some work is designed without workers in mind. When you are in the business of creating work which has no consideration for the human being who will be doing it, then you are asking for trouble. To quote Anita Roddick “we should be fitting organisations to people, not people to organisations”. So business leaders need to understand more about the relationship between employees and the work they do so that work can be made interesting and engaging. People are capable of great things, but if you treat them like children they will behave like children.
Click here to watch the BBC video
David Molden
