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Calgary tech-support specialist Brian Michaluk worked for about a year in a large, nearly empty room where he'd often go all day without talking to anyone. Last summer, he moved into a busy office packed with pods of low-walled cubicles - or, as he calls it, "Dilbert Land."
The move livened up his work social life, but it's killing his productivity.
"There are times when all I can do is pop in some headphones, crank up the tunes and ignore everyone if I want to get my work done," Mr. Michaluk says. Even when he can't hear his co-workers, he says, just seeing them work on a different project can be a distraction.
Recent brain research proves what many office workers have long suspected - your colleagues are slowing you down. A University of Calgary scientist has found that watching someone perform a different task slows our brains, impeding efficiency and possibly leading to more errors.
The 'office collar' was created by London artist Simone Brewster as a comment on isolation, but having tried working with one, she says: 'It can't be denied that they do aid concentration.'
Most office designers visualize the workplace of the future as something like an overgrown Starbucks with lots of open space. That might be good for information-sharing, researchers say, but when you're working on a specific task you're better off alone.
"We are social beings," says Tim Welsh, an assistant professor of kinesiology at the University of Calgary. "There's this natural tendency for us to be interested in what others are doing."
Dr. Welsh measured this tendency in a study published in the December issue of the journal Human Movement Science. He tested people's reaction times as they performed simple tasks on computers alongside another person performing a slightly different function. He found that the more you see others performing different tasks - building a spreadsheet, for example, while you're writing a memo - the slower you'll be.
Such visual distractions delay our reaction time, he explains, because mirror neurons in our brains create a mental picture of what the other person is doing. This process competes with the neurons that are
creating a mental picture of what we are doing at the same moment.
Mirror neurons perform valuable functions beyond breaking our chain of thought at work. They help us comprehend other people's actions and empathize with them; one leading theory on autism holds that the mirror neuron system is somehow disabled in autistic people, making it extremely hard for them to relate to
others.
But in this case, the mirror neuron activity forces the brain to pause momentarily and sort out which mental picture should take precedent, slowing us down and introducing more chances for mistakes.
Dr. Welsh says his research doesn't mean we should all get private offices. Open workspaces do a great job of facilitating co-operation and planning, not to mention satisfying our basic human need to talk to someone about last night's game or the latest celebrity rehab scandal.
"You can't ignore the benefits of people having a social environment," Dr. Welsh says. But he does think businesses should build their offices to minimize sightline distractions the same way they try to minimize noise distractions. That means paying attention to the height of cubicle walls, so you can easily communicate with co-workers but cannot see motions and gestures that might distract you.
Other work environments call for different measures. For example, in arthroscopic surgery, one person controls a tiny camera inside the patient while a doctor performs the operation using the video images as a guide. It may be a good idea to put a curtain between the two in such operations, Dr. Welsh says, so they won't be distracted by the sight of the other's hand movements.
Perhaps the workplaces of the future will take inspiration from London artist Simone Brewster, who created several models of white leather strap-on masks that block peripheral vision, serving the same function as racehorse blinkers.
Ms. Brewster says she meant the "office collar" to comment on isolation and the tension between individual and group identity. However, having tried working with one herself, she says, "It can't be denied that they do aid concentration."
Resorting to less extreme measures, Chris Perkins recently rearranged the furniture in his Co-operators insurance office in Guelph, Ont., so he can't see people walking by when he's at his computer. As the human resources manager, he says, having his back to the door isn't ideal in terms of welcoming people into his office, but he's able to focus much better.
Still, he doesn't want to turn his back on distractions completely. Mr. Perkins refers to the work of influential psychologist Abraham Maslow, who proposed a human "hierarchy of needs" that places socialization just after basic requirements such as oxygen, food and security. Machine-like concentration on the task at hand would make us better workers, but probably not very happy people.
"Put people in offices day in and day out and minimize socialization, I would bet that initial productivity may be high, but then slow," Mr. Perkins says. "I think we would begin to create our own distractions."
How to keep focused
Distractions at work are legion. Short of slapping on blinders, how can you stay focused and get more done? Some thoughts from the experts:
Write out a daily task list and keep it close to remind you of what you need to get done when your attention wanders.
Keep another list of mindless tasks you need to accomplish, such as tidying your desk or labelling files, so you can be productive even when you lack the mental energy for something challenging.
Try "time boxing" - rather than slogging through a project until it's done, commit to working flat out on one thing for a defined period, say 30 minutes.
Reward yourself when you accomplish a goal.
Follow the advice of Thomas Jefferson: "Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing."
Or find inspiration instead in Henry David Thoreau's words: "It is not enough to be industrious; so are the ants. What are you industrious about?"
Rebecca Dube
Sources: davecheong.com,
careerandkids.com; Jefferson
Digital Archive; The Walden Woods Project.
