Help Is Close At Hand

I'm sure you would agree that interruptions are one of the biggest obstacle to greater productivity, right? Two ways to reduce interruptions are to temporarily shift your work place or your work time. But that isn't always possible or convenient, and sometimes you do get interrupted during your work day. And if it's an interruption from somebody who needs help, you might need to handle it.

Fortunately, the Internet does offer some useful tools to help you manage - and in some cases, eliminate - your interruptions. Even if you can't completely eliminate the need for people to seek your help, sometimes you can divert them elsewhere instead.

Here are three alternatives:

1. Self Help: You help them solve problems on their own.
2. Help Each Other: You build a community of people who can assist each other.
3. Helping Hands: You introduce an intermediary, such as a virtual assistant or help desk, who can provide support.

Let's look at these briefly...

1. Self help
Compile a list of frequently asked questions and answers (often called a "FAQ" - for Frequently Asked Questions), and post them to a Web page (password-protected, if they are confidential). Tell people about it, and if they do ask a question that you've answered there, refer them to the answer (which gently reminds them to check it in the future).

Of course, you should review the FAQ periodically to ensure it's accurate and current.

2. Help each other
If you work in a team, or you have several customers who use a product or service, form a community and encourage them to consult each other if they need help.

You could do this with a wiki, which means anybody in the community can update it. This makes it more relevant and current than documentation prepared by an individual, because it represents the contributions of several people. It also requires less effort from you because the workload is shared by multiple contributors.

3. Helping hands
The next option is to get an assistant - or a virtual assistant (somebody who isn't in the same office as you). They can do secretarial work for you, and they become the first point of contact for people who need help. As they get more experience, you can add more sophisticated tasks to their role.

The best way to find a virtual assistant is by asking around. Many independent business owners use virtual assistants, and their experience counts for more than almost anything else when choosing one for yourself. So tell your Twitter followers, Facebook friends, LinkedIn connections and other communities that you're looking for a virtual assistant, and ask for recommendations.

If your assistant has a lot of tasks, and you'd like to be able to check them at any time, you can create an on-line spreadsheet (in Google Docs, for example), which you and your assistant (and others on your team) can read and update.

4. Pitch in and help
Finally, there will be times when none of the preceding options will do, and you really do need to get involved. Do this willingly and graciously, rather than through gritted teeth. As much as you might wish to minimise these situations, when they do occur, they usually occur for a good reason.

Here are some simple tips for making this as effective and painless as possible:

• Before you rush in to answer the request for help, make sure you really understand it. Don't guess - if in doubt, ask!
• If you get the request by e-mail or voicemail, reply quickly to acknowledge their request, and give them some indication of your plan.
• If it's going to take a long time, report on progress along the way.
• If there are any delays, alert the other person to them as soon as possible. Don't wait until the deadline itself - that doesn't give them any room to adjust.

Finally, after you complete the task, look to the future. Consider whether you could improve your systems and processes to prevent this recurring - or at least, preventing the need for the other person to contact you. Sometimes this isn't possible, and sometimes it isn't even appropriate; but at least consider it.

Could you use any of these options?
Some of these things might seem too simple. But don't discard them too soon! I've talked to quite a few people who have done just one or two of these things and seen big improvements in their productivity.

Gihan Perera is the co-author of the e-book "Out Of Office: Using the Internet for Greater Freedom in Your Work Life". Visit http://outofofficebook.com for your free chapter about how to use technology to be more productive at work.