How to transition back to productive work quickly after long meetings?

Question

So here's the deal and I 'm sure many can relate because I've had people say "yep, that's me too.". I will have a single meeting or string of meetings chained together that span say 2-3 hours with no break in between. Now I'm all about taking a bathroom break and getting a drink, but it seems like transitioning to 'heads-down' work after being actively involved in phone meetings for 2,3,4+ hours and I end up taking 30+ minutes often to 'get back in the mode'.

For example, I'll hang up then here is what I might end up doing:

1. Go to the bathroom
2. Clean my coffee cup and get a drink
3. Stop by someones desk and say hello
4. Check my personal email on my phone or news story (and related links) because I'm still burnt out from meetings
5. Check StackOverflow...
6. Take a quick walk around the building to stretch my legs because I was sitting too long
7. Check my work email (ok this is not what I consider 'productive' work)

Guess what? 30 minutes gone!

It's like that feeling after running a race and needing a break so part of this is natural. However nowadays the multiple and long meetings are a part of my life and time is precious. It seems difficult for me to 'transition' back into heads down productive work after a string of long and actively involved meetings.

How do I break this cycle and reduce the time between concluding long meetings and reinstating heads-down productive work?

Thanks!

Answer 1

In my experience, you cannot. The mode of thinking that requires interacting with people and/or feigning attention needs to be moved into the working frame of mind, that for most jobs does not involve interacting with people in the same way.

Assuming you cannot limit the number of meetings, I try to adjust my schedule to deal with them:

• Lump the meetings together if you can so there are fewer "boundaries" of lost time between meetings and work.
• Arrange your schedule so that meetings end right before lunch or leaving for the day. If you're not going to do work, then you're not missing out.
• Do frivilous work in that dead-period. Timesheets, emails, company training... stuff that isn't quite work, but needs to be done regardless so it doesn't eat away from 'real' work at inopportune times.

Answer 2

I admit, I'm as much a victim of this as anyone, and it's something I still work on... probably a big reason I'm on The Workplace, is needing a break between meetings and solo work.

But here's somethings that I find facilitate the process:

• Book around Lunch - if I can use lunch as that natural transition break between meetings and regular work, then I can absorb the mental shift by the natural break of eating.

• Work the AIs (Action Items) immediately - Make it a default plan to start with any of the easy AIs - particularly good are the ones that involve kicking off a mail and waiting for a response, or another low-mental-overhead activity - like filling out a peice of paperwork. Although they may not be due immediately, they are part of where your brain is currently thinking, so they make a nice segway.

• Have a list - in or before the meeting, have a list of what you most need to do when you have non-meeting time. For me, the "oh! I need to do that!!" bubbles up during the meeting and I write it at the top or in the margins. Walking back to my desk, I review the list and pick the thing I need to work on and start "uploading" it - thinking about what's up and what I need to do to get it done.

2-3 meetings back to back can be quite the context switch, and you may simply have context switch whiplash, which I'm not sure is 100% fixable. I do find however, that I do better when I focus on ramping up into something interesting (work I want to get done).

Answer 3

Try not to beat yourself up too much over this. Meetings should be kept short and to the point for this very reason, but are the most abused time-suck in the corporate world.

I try to triage my workload based on the level of concentration and creativity involved, how much time is required releative to when it is due. If I know the meetings are just too draining, plan on getting some of the easy tasks out of the way: catch up on email, return phone calls, etc.

When possible, block off uninterupted time for the more complex tasks. Any interuption can set you back anywhere from 15-30 minutes. There's pretty good research to support this.

Answer 4

I've sort of solved this problem for myself.

In the last few places that I worked there was some sort of a quiet room that is usually dark and empty. I've noticed that some muslim coworkers have been using it as a prayer room, and I'm not sure whether it was intended for that or a perhaps it is medical room, but suffice to say that I've been able to find a place like that in all of the large companies I've worked for recently.

I've been visiting that room and spending some time meditating there. Now I haven't been big on meditation thing until I actually tried it, and for me personally it's not a spiritual matter but more of a concentration and 'mental reset' exercise. Perhaps even just sitting alone in silence for a bit where nobody bothers you may be sufficient.

Whenever I feel spent or in a state of mind where I can't focus on any one thing and end up wasting my time on unproductive tasks (happens frequently after long meetings), I take 5-10 min for some of that time alone in the dark. Afterwards I end up feeling refreshed and ready to tackle whatever problem needs tackling.

Answer 5

The best way I've found is to keep your to-do list (you do have a regularly updated to-do list, right?) in a very visible place. I personally use Toodledo to manage my tasks, and I keep that as my home page. This way, whenever I have an urge to open a web browser, the first thing I see is my list of action items. With a written to-do list, which I often use to take down small items, I simply keep it in front of me during the day, right next to my keyboard. This isn't foolproof (I'm here, aren't I?), but it has definitely helped me out a lot.

Answer 6

Institute within a team/project/group/division/company blocks of quiet-time. Unfortunately for us all, meetings are necessary, but we can minimize their impact to our day by setting aside and respecting blocks of no meeting times. Eliminate afternoon meetings (pretty drastic I know). One, two or three no-meeting days a week. Just imagine how much you could get done.

• Multitasking is a myth. Individuals cannot perform multiple activities that require serious and/or significant thought. We are serial by nature.
• Before you can contribute to an existing body of work you must first immerse yourself in that body of work.
• The act of immersing yourself in a body of work requires a period of uninterrupted time from a few seconds to multiple tens of minutes. The more complex the problem the longer it takes.
• Engineering (I work for an engineering Firm) by its nature is complex (I am guessing everyone elses work is too)
• A seemingly short interruption may cause a team member to lose a significant amount of time (possibly 30min or more)