Destructive Disruptions

How destructive are disruptions really – really destructive according to the research

Interruptions are the simplest way to reduce cognitive ability and productivity – so why don’t businesses do more to counteract them? Beats me!

If I were to give you a pill that could reliably reduce your IQ, reduce your brain performance, so that it took you twice as long to complete your tasks, reduce your ability to memorize things, increase your mistakes and lower your accuracy, lower your perception, and lower your all-round performance, would you take it? Would you take it every day? Would you give it to your workforce to take it every day? Of course, not. Any business leader who did would be fired on the spot.

But it is likely that you are taking this pill every day unbeknownst to yourself and others. And leaders and companies do give it to their employees in large doses. They really do, believe me! This is not a pill, of course – it is disruptions aka interruptions. The long list of negative impacts listed above are what interruptions do reliably, consistently, are well-researched, and the research, unlike in some other academic areas, is incredibly consistent here. Disruptions and interruptions are incredibly good at lowering cognitive performance and massively decreasing output.

Let me shine a light on what the research says.