Dealing with an uncontrollable workload

On the Human Resources blog, Jeff Davidson has written an excellent article about the challenges we face in mastering new technologies. He outlines the disruptive nature of these technologies and how they have intruded into our personal and work-life. At the same time, he points out that this is not a new phenomenon; he cites as an example the impact of the automobile at the beginning of the last century.

As I visit and talk with IACCM members the world over, I encounter people who feel that their workload is ever increasing and is more and more out of control. They are overwhelmed by the volume of mail, the scale of intrusions into their planned activities, the difficulty in scheduling their day. These problems are evident in so many ways. For example, our willingness to turn up for meetings; our ability to focus once there; the extent to which we feel obliged to continually check for new mail, or to answer phone calls. On one level, we have simply become much ruder; on another, we somehow seem unable to prioritize, or those who ‘intrude’ increasingly expect instant attention and answers.

Jeff Davidson makes the point that we must remember who is in control (it is us, not the technology) and it is our responsibility to work out how to manage it more effectively. If we fail to do so, our productivity and contribution will decline and we will be victims of tools that should in fact be assisting us.

Read the article. How should we be handling this dilemma?