Management Buzz 12/03 Determining who's an employee and who's not; hiring vets might be your best bet

First ThingsFirst
Ken Gaebler, president of PR firm Walker Sands Communications inChicago, says he's a reformed multitasker. Trying to do two ormore things at once seems like good time-management, but it canactually torpedo productivity. "When you try to juggle twoballs, you're going to drop one of them," saysGaebler.

Business management experts agree. Ilyce Glink, author of theself-published book The Really Useful Guide to Working Smarter,Not Harder (www.thinkglink.com), cites research indicating thatpeople who try to do several tasks at once actually take longer todo them than if they just did one at a time. "When you'reinterrupted, it takes time to get back into the groove. If you addup the five or 10 minutes lost to transitional time throughout theday, it really adds up," says Glink.

The worst combination is several complex tasks. You'rebetter off keeping one document open on your computer andconcentrating on it until you've polished off a major chunk,advises Glink.