How to handle information overload
More information has been produced in the past 25 years than in the past five centuries. Unless you know how to find your way through this growing body of data, information overload can result in lost effectiveness. How can you keep up?
1/ Identify the sources of information overload
When it comes to information overload, new technologies are the main culprits, though not the only ones…
2/ Determine the impact of information overload on your teams
For those afflicted by information overload, there are numerous daily consequences…
3/ Organize a collective battle
Managers have a central role to play in the fight against the proliferation of information. It’s up to you to provide teams with an optimal working environment and help them to resist overload by setting benchmarks…
4/ Provide incentives
The key here is to persuade rather than impose. Gradual implementation of new practices leads to better information habits…
5/ Learn to communicate
Overuse of new technologies contributes to information overload. You’ re better off learning to use them at the right time and for the right reasons — and even using more traditional, yet proven, sharing tools…
6/ Create a quality collaborative environment
Management should provide teams with simple tools that provide pertinent information at the right place and the right time…
Excerpt from Business Digest N°298, July-August 2019
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