Most managers know that their people focus better and are more productive when the weather is bad; furthermore they know why—distraction.

Sunny skies draw peoples thought outside and focus them on thoughts of what they could be doing, while gray skies and rain are far less distracting.

However, I doubt those same managers are aware that décor, such as sun and surf travel posters, generates the same distracting effect.

…an increase in rain correlated with a decrease in the time it took for workers to complete their tasks. Low visibility and extreme temperatures also matched periods of high worker productivity. Clear, sunny days correlated with relatively low productivity. (…) Meanwhile, exposure to the sunny-day photographs significantly decreased the performance of participants who came to the lab on rainy days. For those who came in on sunny days, the added distraction of the sunny-day photographs had little effect on performance.

While you can control the décor, you can’t control the weather, so how can you improve productivity on those pesky great-weather days?

• Recognize that sunny-weather distraction is part of being human, happens on all levels and you are unlikely to change it.
• Take weather into consideration when scheduling and allow extra time during sunny times on your private schedule, not necessarily the one you share with the team.
• Develop good weather incentives, such as time outdoors for hitting predetermined goals.
• Most importantly, don’t waste energy trying to change

Not all challenges can be overcome (more abut that Wednesday); sometimes you can find work-arounds, others you just need to accept.

Flickr image credit: duncan_idaho_2007

This entry was posted on Monday, October 1st, 2012 at 1:15 am and is filed under Motivation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Tags: management approach, productive business, productivity
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