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Improving Effectiveness on the Road to Overcoming Overload |
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Thoughts and Tips on Overcoming Information Indigestion
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Forward to a Friend
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Thoughts |
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Adam * went out of the weekly department meeting feeling as if his head was about to explode. No, it was not a headache but a sense of inability to think straight. The four hour meeting ended with a big pile of handouts, PowerPoint notes and all the slides that were presented. Commenting to another manager Adam said, “This is nuts. I can’t think any more. Do you want to go for a walk?” “Sure,” said his friend, “I feel as if I need the rest of the month to digest all of this stuff.” If you feel like Adam and his friend you may be suffering from information overload or information indigestion that comes with similar feelings and risks as overeating. Prolonged information indigestion has risks similar to those associated with overweight and obesity. A 1996 study by Reuters news service suggested that: · 43% of managers had difficulty making decisions because of information overload. · 47% felt that information overload distracted them from their main responsibilities and high priorities.
* The names and titles are changed. The experience is based on participants in our Overcoming Overload Workshop. |
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Tips |
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Please consider the following: · Information, like food, of itself has absolutely no value until it is digested. Through the thinking process it is converted into knowledge. In our busy, overloaded meetings we often compromise the digestion or thinking process. · Knowledge of itself, like our human energy, is of very little value until it is related to the outside world in a timely and meaningful manner and we call that wisdom. · In our busy, overloaded world we often act in urgency and haste compromising wisdom. This is the highest risk of information overload. What can you do? Improve your thinking capacity. Take time to be wise. Consider the following tips: · Set up a regular processing or thinking meeting with yourself. Set aside one to two hours each day to engage your mind in a process of thinking and responding to events of the previous day and set the stage for what is to come. · Dave, a senior VP in a very large bank, agreed with his team that each of them would spend a pre-planned, half a day a week away from operational demands and invest it in thinking and planning. · Start your work day away from the office. One of our clients goes to her favorite QUIET coffee shop after dropping her children at school. Her work day starts at 8:00 AM; her office day starts at 9:30 AM. · “Avoid idle babbling.” Take good notes, not of what is told, but take notes of what is learned and its impact on your sphere of accountability and scope of influence. · In planning to attend a heavy meeting, block an equal amount of processing time shortly after the meeting. Review what was said as well as the tone and body language. Remember that sometimes what was not said is more important than what was said. · When planning to lead a meeting, make your agenda more effective by allowing processing or thinking time between agenda items. Summarize the outcome of each agenda item. Remember “The mind cannot absorb more than the seat can endure” and “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. ====================================== The coming e-letter is titled Overcoming E-mail Overload
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