RECOVERING FROM INFORMATION OVERLOAD

by Derek Dean and Caroline Webb

 

Always-on, multitasking work environments are killing productivity, dampening creativity, and making us unhappy.

…Many senior executives literally have two overlapping workdays: the one that is formally programmed in their diaries and the one “before, after, and in-between,” when they disjointedly attempt to grab spare moments with their laptops or smart phones, multitasking in a vain effort to keep pace with the information flowing toward them.

…multitasking is a terrible coping mechanism. A body of scientific evidence demonstrates fairly conclusively that multitasking makes human beings less productive, less creative, and less able to make good decisions. If we want to be effective leaders, we need to stop.

…addressing information overload requires enormous self discipline…to retain the benefits of connectivity without letting it distract us too much.

It slows us down

…in a recent study, for example, participants who completed tasks in parallel took up to 30 percent longer and made twice as many errors as those who completed the same tasks in sequence.

It hampers creativity

One might think that constant exposure to new information at least makes us more creative. Here again, the opposite seems to be true. We are at risk of moving toward an ever less thoughtful and creative professional reality unless we stop now to redesign our working norms.

…when people have highly fragmented days—with many activities, meetings, and discussions in groups—their creative thinking decreases significantly…A survey of managers conducted by Reuters revealed that two-thirds of respondents believed that information overload had lessened job satisfaction and damaged their personal relationships. One-third even thought it had damaged their health.

…So if multitasking isn’t the answer, what is? ...some combination of focusing, filtering, and forgetting. …Digital information overload compounds the peril of “overeating” by flooding leaders with a variety of questions and topics that frequently could be addressed by others, thereby distracting those leaders from the thorny, unpleasant, and high-stakes problems where they are most needed.

…First, we need to acknowledge and reevaluate the mind-sets that attach us to our current patterns of behavior.

 

Recovering from information overload, McKinsey Quarterly, Jan. 2011