"Being Helpful" is Burning Your Team's Focus Time

It's 9:30am and your focus block just started. You've got two key priorities you need to make happen. 

Suddenly messages light up your notifications. Team members that need "quick help".  

You desperately want to focus on your key priorities, but you also want to "be helpful" (and for certain don't want to be seen as "unhelpful"). 

You can't just ignore the messages, so you respond... which leads to more messages... which leads to ChatGPT prompts... which leads to Google searches...

Before you know it, you only have 30 minutes left in your focus block. At best you're going to get one of your two priorities done, and your stomach is already sinking.

Just then your phone rings, and the cycle starts all over again. 

Your focus block ends, and you feel frustrated and de-energized. 

You check on your team, and they have the very same look on their faces. 

Everyone is just "being helpful", responding to interruptions as they come up, and no actual priorities get done. 

But you and your team should be helpful, right? 

And it feels like it's only getting worse. It use to be so much easier to get priorities done. When your team was small, focus came naturally. You could plan, execute, and get in deep work without chaos creeping in. Then your team started growing.

That’s when the noise began.

Messages flying. “Quick” calls. Last-minute meeting invites. Emails asking for updates on priorities you’re too interrupted to get done. 

You added people to make things better, but instead of peace, you multiplied the noise. 

By 6pm, everybody is drained. Not from the work itself, but from the constant barrage of interruptions.

Everyone responds to these interruptions to "be helpful", because what other option do they have? 

Turns out quite a bit, but let's first breakdown why this happens in the first place. 

We are Wired to Help

When you are interrupted by an incoming message from your team member asking for help, your brain is wired to respond. 

Why? You rise to the expectations of others. When presented with a request from someone you care about, you fear saying "no" because it might hurt the relationship if you don't meet their expectations. 

We are social creatures, and wired to take action to nurture relationships we care about. 

This is all fine and good when the number of individuals that can interrupt you and ask for help is small and manageable, but this goes haywire as your team scales. 

Scaling Teams Also Scale Interruptions

Your team's constant interruptions are not unique to you. It’s just math.

As your team grows, the complexity of communication scales exponentially.

• Two people on a team? Only one potential interrupter.
• Four people? Each can interrupt three others.
• Fourteen people? Ninety one possible combinations of interruption.

Every ping, every “quick question,” every meeting invite comes from the same innocent place: someone just trying to get their job done.

They don’t know how to get their need met without interrupting someone else.

Without structure, everyone ends up competing for attention. 

As a leader, this crushes you. You're tired of being pulled in every direction. You feel guilty for being reactive instead of strategic, frustrated that your team can’t seem to stay focused, and exhausted from trying to fix it all yourself.

You’re not alone, and you’re not failing. You just need an approach that removes the guilt, reduces the noise, and brings peace back to your team.

How Can I Get This Need Met With The Least Interruption Possible?

Effective team communication begins with these fundamental ideas:

1. Your team's focus time is the most valuable asset you have.
2. Every team member has priorities they need to make happen with their focus time. 
3. If you ask for help with a need, help will likely be given to you, even if it impacts a priority.
4. Therefore, you need to get this need meet with the least interruptions possible, to allow other team members to focus as much as possible. 

This can be summarized in a single statement that every member of your team should tattoo on their forehead:

How can I get this need met with the least interruption possible? 

With that understanding, here are three simple communication lanes to help every need get met with the least interruption possible. 

Your Team Needs Communication Lanes to Minimize Interruptions

High-functioning teams communicate to get their needs met without sacrificing focus or peace.

There are three timeframes you want to solve for to get needs met: right now, today or tomorrow, and in the future.  

1. Right Now = On Fire

Medium = Guaranteed interruption tool like a phone call or walk-in

If something is actually on fire, such as a client escalation, an outage, or a true emergency, you should interrupt in a way that's guaranteed to get someone's attention. 

High-functioning teams establish two rules for fires:

1. What constitutes a fire worthy of an interruption? For example: VIP client demands a meeting, the website is down, you cannot transact credit cards, etc. 
2. What is the expected response time for a fire? For example, you either pick up the phone or send a message immediately on when you'll be free. 

2. Today or Tomorrow = Whirlwind

Medium: Low interruption tool like a messaging app (e.g. Text Message, Teams, Slack, WhatsApp)

Though not every need is a right now fire, some do need to be handled today or tomorrow. For these types of needs, Whirlwind is an incredible solution. Any team running on the Time Boss Framework will have Whirlwind (or intentional buffer time) built into their schedule as a budget for unpredictable urgent and important tasks that will inevitably pop up. 

High-functioning teams label these needs as "Whirlwind" to quickly flag that the need is not on fire, but needs to be met today or tomorrow.  They also include these three items in their request:

1. A clear definition of done - For example, “I need the Q3 slide deck updated with the latest numbers...”
2. The due date - For example, "...by end of day today..."
3. The value of the request - For example, “...so we can finalize tomorrow’s board review.”

So a full message might look like this:

"Whirlwind - “I need the Q3 slide deck updated with the latest numbers by end of day today so we can finalize tomorrow’s board review.”

3. In the Future = Backlog or Calendar

Medium = Non-interruption tool like email (Assuming email notifications are off)

For anything that can wait at least two days, use a tool like email to deliver the request and ask the team member to add it to their Backlog (aka main to-do list) or block time on their Calendar. If your team is running on the Time Boss Framework, they'll know exactly what to do with this. 

Include the same ingredients as a Whirlwind request: the definition of done, the due date, and the value of the request. 

So a full message might look like this: 

Subject: Backlog - Analytics Report by Tuesday

Can you add to your Backlog to get me the analytics report for last quarter by end of day next Tuesday? I need it to make a decision on upgrades.

BONUS :: Celebrate Focus

When someone uses the agreed-upon communication lanes, celebrate it out loud: “Thank you for flagging that as a Whirlwind,” or “Appreciate you emailing that need instead of interrupting me.”

Every bit of positive reinforcement strengthens the culture.

What If Your Team Can’t Get on the Same Page?

If you’re thinking, “This is us, and I don't have time to fix this myself” don’t let another week slip into the noise. Teams who learn the Time Boss Framework together develop a common language around time, report significantly fewer interruptions, a dramatic increase in productivity, and greater overall peace. If your team is already deep in the chaos, it’s not too late. You just need space to reset together.

That’s where the Time Boss Workshop comes in.

In one session, your whole team learns the Time Boss framework, builds common language around time, and defines their own rules of engagement to protect focus and peace. If you're curious to see how this might work for your organization, you can learn more about Time Boss workshops or schedule time to discuss with a member of the Time Boss team.