Speed culture: When emergencies destroy productivity

Boss needs that finished by 2 p.m.
You give an emergency call to Joe; he’ll know offhand that important statistic you need.
Joe has a 3 p.m. deadline. He takes your call at l0 a.m. and fields a few emergency texts before turning to his own work at 11 a.m.

Joe calls Rachael to see if she can hit the highlights on that noon meeting so he can leave at 12:15. Now Rachael needs to speed up her work . . . and on it goes.
According to Joe Robinson Strategies, in a speed obsessed environment productivity suffers. Everyone is so busy hurrying that everything is delayed.
Speed environments usually develop after constant interruptions disrupt everyone’s work plans.

You can point the finger directly at technology for part of the problem. Instant communication tends to chip away at patience. Just one little thing isn’t too much to ask, but your one thing and everyone else’s one thing starts a snowball of delays. Now everyone is behind and speeding to catch up. Everything is an emergency.

Some companies have actually set up universal quiet times, when no internal email, text or telephone communication is permitted.

If the speed culture can be slowed by courtesy and patience, the stress it creates lingers.
Telling people to slow down or relax, will not work, experts say.

In fact, according to the Wall Street Journal, it is impossible for the body to relax on command. A University of California researcher Wendy Mendes says returning to a relaxed state can take 20 to 60 minutes.

That isn’t all. People who feel they have to respond to constant emergencies and who genuinely have to speed through the day, will not take the suggestion “just relax” kindly. In fact, many find it infuriating.

Since you can’t turn off stress instantly, suppressing it might be the only option. But then the pressure becomes greater.

Deep breath.

The ‘calm down’ person is usually talking about how your stress affects her.
You can take it as a opening to start a conversation on workload, interruptions and process. Maybe there is a way to make the system smoother and less caught up in emergency.