????現如今，似乎每個人都在談論“協作”，尤其是將“協作”作為一項業務手段。不可否認，兩者緊密相連，但最近的討論忽視了等式另一端的“專注”。

????首先要聲明一點，我推崇協作。雖然近期有不少文章批評頭腦風暴，我仍是協作論的支持者。但認為“協作是解決一切問題的靈藥”，這種觀點在我看來同樣失之片面。正如上個世紀大部分時候我們都在喋喋不休地講個人需求，而不是團隊需求，如今我們的行為有矯枉過正的風險。我們絕不能忘記“專注”對于做（好）工作的重要性。

????但也別急著馬上就要動手在辦公室里豎起隔板來，不妨先想一想，轉變行為方式或許比豎隔板更有助于促進專注。

????大多數人早就知道辦公室格子間對于專注工作并沒有幫助。隔板雖然擋住了視線，讓你不能看到臨近的同事，有一種私密的錯覺，但任何人在格子間里坐上超過一個小時就知道，這些隔板幾乎擋不住任何聲響。

????獨立辦公室也好不了多少。即便有自己的私人辦公室，也很可能無法在里面專注工作。為什么？因為如果你在那兒，所有人都知道到那兒去找你。去年，我們調查了10,000多名員工，“突然拜訪”（pop-ins）在工作場所18項最常見的浪費時間因素中列在第一位。I

????因此，毫不奇怪，當我們在采訪中和在研討會上問到人們“他們最出色的工作是在哪里完成的？”，我們常常聽到的答案是家里、小餐廳、街對面的咖啡館，基本上都是別人沒法找到他們的地方。從我們進行的數千份空間利用研究中，我們也發現，個人工作空間的平均使用時間僅占核心工作日的35%。人們不會在自己的座位上呆很長的時間。

????這絕不是說他們沒在工作。事實上，大多數人工作都很努力，但他們不是在自己的座位上工作，而是在會議室、在客戶那里、在出差，或在其他的地點很專注地工作。

工作中沒時間思考

????“最需要集中注意力的工作在哪里完成”——對于我們的這個問題，最常見的回答是“家里”。不僅僅是因為家里是可以避免分心的地方，而且也因為我們白天的工作排得滿滿當當，大多數人能專注做事的時間只有每天的清晨、深夜或周末。

????最近，我遇到的一位軟件工程師將此歸咎于“管理者帶來的問題”。由于工作性質關系，管理者幾乎總是在開會，工作日程排得如此之滿，內部會議只能見縫插針。不管員工是不是正在那兩個小時里心無旁騖地專注工作，管理者要開的會還得開，因為他只有這個時間有空。誰叫他是管理者呢。

????作為一名管理者，我認為這也是“管理者遇到的問題”。我總是在日程安排方面遇到麻煩——日程已經排滿，余下的都是些15分鐘、30分鐘這樣一小段一小段的時間，只夠我回復郵件。即便是那些沒有被會議填滿的日子，我的日程看來也已滿滿當當，根本不容我坐下來，專心致志地處理一些頗費思量的事情。

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????It seems everyone is talking about collaboration these days, and in particular, collaboration as a business tool. There is no denying that the two are connected, but the recent debates have sidelined the other equally critical side of the equation -- concentration.

????For the record, I'm a big fan of collaboration. And despite the relatively recent spate of articles knocking brainstorming, I'm a fan of that as well. But the idea that collaboration is some sort of business cure-all does feel one-sided to me. Just as we spent the better part of the last century harping on the needs of individuals rather the needs of teams, we now run the risk of letting the pendulum swing too far the other way. We must not forget the important role concentration plays in getting (good) work done.

????But before you run out and reconstruct the walls of your office's cubicles, consider that a shift in behavior might do more to support concentration than the construction of walls ever will.

????That cubes aren't good for concentration most people already know. Panels give the illusion of privacy because you can't see your neighbor, but anyone who has sat in one for more than an hour can tell you that the fabric between you does little to protect you from hearing your neighbor.

????Offices aren't much better. Even if you have a private office, chances are that you don't get that much focused work done in it. Why? Because when you're there, everyone knows where to find you. Of the 10,000+ workers we surveyed last year, "pop-ins" ranked first (of 18) in a list of the most common workplace time-wasters.

????It's no surprise that when we ask people in interviews and workshops where they get their best work done, we usually hear at home, in the café, at a coffee shop across the street, essentially any place where other people can't find them. We learned from the thousands of space utilization studies we've done that individual workspace is occupied an average of 35% of the core working day. People just don't spend a ton of time at their desks.

????Now, that doesn't mean they're not working. Indeed, most of them are working very hard, but instead of sitting at their desks, they are in conference rooms, at customer sites, travelling, or…wait for it…concentrating someplace else.

No time to think at work

????"Home" is a frequent answer to our question about where people get their most focused work done not just because it can be a place free from distractions but also because, with our days so scheduled, the only time most people have to concentrate is early in the morning, late at night, or over the weekend.

????I met a software engineer recently who referred to this as "the problem with managers." By the very nature of their roles, managers are almost constantly in meetings. As a result, their schedules are packed so tightly that when it comes to scheduling internal meetings, people are slotted into whatever time is available. No matter if it is right in the middle of a two-hour slot designated for concentrated work, that is the only free time the manager has. And he is the manager.

????As a manager, I think this could just as easily be called "the problem for managers." I am constantly challenged by my calendar -- it fills up and I'm left with 15 and 30 minute slots of time that are only good for returning emails. Even on days that are not filled with meetings, the ones I do have seem to be scheduled just far enough apart to make sitting down and really focusing on something extremely difficult.