Did you know that multitasking diminishes productivity, and that it negatively impacts specifically women in the workplace?
Despite a wide-spread belief that women excel at multitasking, research shows that women and men are equally bad at it, and that engaging in it undermines everyone’s productivity, regardless of gender.
However, for many women, the ability to master multitasking is profoundly encouraged as a path to career success. But as this article on the topic shows, the irony is that multitasking actually results in women feeling “scattered, overworked, and underappreciated — all the while getting passed over for promotions”. One reason for this is that women often shoulder non-promotable tasks (usually shorter-term, interrupter-style assignments that need to be done quickly), which neither propel their careers nor utilize their time effectively.
The multitasking myth is ready to be busted, starting with women dissolving the belief (conscious or not) that they must do it all, and all at once. As the Chief article explains, this belief can create a vicious cycle at work: women take on more, but fall behind in ways that count, then must keep taking on more to prove themselves, again.
As they consider saying Yes or No to tasks that Dr. Laurie Weingart in the article portrays as “Can you help with that, cover for me here…”, we believe it’s important for women in the workplace to take the following actions:
- evaluate the organizational value of tasks,
- discern your motivations for agreeing to them, and
- concentrate on endeavors that align with your skills and the company’s objectives.
We encourage people to embrace monotasking as a more effective approach. Check out the “Monotasking Strategies to Improve Productivity” blog post for some ideas!