The key to success (aside from the obviousness of the hat) was that the manager told his staff exactly what he was doing, wrote Laura Stack, a productivity expert in her book Leave the Office Earlier. She suggests getting the entire office to adopt a signal together.
“Get together with your department and agree on a signal everyone will use consistently,” she wrote. It doesn’t have to be high-tech, but could be as simple as installing curtains across a cubicle door, turning a nameplate around or partially closing an office door.
Unfortunately, there’s no research to suggest what signals work best, says Nancy Stone, a professor of psychological science at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. “There’s no behavioural norms for this,” says Stone.
Carpenter says that the red-green block has made a huge difference. At his previous workplace, which also had an open concept office, there were no signals and everyone chatted nonstop throughout the day, no matter what needed to get done.
“It’s amazing. Just by flipping something I can say I’m busy,” he says. “And I need that.”