If you’re like most people, you constantly feel like you’re juggling several tasks, projects, or priorities at once. Most of us feel like we have too much to do at any given moment, and that to make the best use of our time we need to be working on multiple tasks at the same time. But while multitasking is a natural inclination, especially in today’s fast-paced professional world, it’s actually quite counterproductive. In fact, creating a culture that promotes multitasking can sap your entire team of its efficiency and its focus.

What’s So Bad About Multitasking?

To understand why multitasking is such a trap, it’s important to consider a few common misconceptions.

Does Multitasking Make Employees More Productive?

One reason why companies push multitasking is that they assume it will make their employees more productive, able to accomplish more work in a shorter span of time. This makes a certain sense, but it isn’t validated by any actual science. In fact, study after study confirms that multitasking leads to attention lapses, a more limited working memory, and a greater propensity to make basic errors.

Simply put, our brains are not wired in a way to handle working on multiple complicated tasks at the same time.

Will Multitasking Help Your Team Make Deadlines?

Another common misconception is that, by multitasking, your team members will get their work done more efficiently, perhaps even finding it easier to make deadlines.

But again, science tells us otherwise. Because multitasking causes our brains to make more errors, and because it causes so much mental strain, it actually slows down the progress of your work. As such, the teams that multitask tend to encounter more delays and to miss more deadlines.

Should Bosses Multitask?

Still another misconception is that the best leaders and managers really have no choice but to multitask, so numerous are their responsibilities.

Actually, multitasking can cause leaders to appear weak or unfocused. It demonstrates that they don’t have the skills necessary to prioritize, or to plan their activities in advance. And it may also be connected to the propensity for micromanaging. After all, leaders who try to do everything can’t help but interfere in the business of others, including their employees.

Time to Say Goodbye to Multitasking?

Your business benefits from focused, disciplined leaders and employees. Multitasking stands in the way of that, making it crucial to develop a culture that emphasizes doing one thing at a time, and doing it with full excellence and attentiveness. For more about how to build a productive culture at your business, don’t hesitate to reach out to WhiteWater Consulting directly.