If you've got fixed furniture that can't be moved, these ideas might help:
1. Try using a plant as visual barrier.
2. What about screens? If you're working on a shoestring budget, the cheap furniture super-stores often have wooden frames you can cover with fabric of your choice.
3. Can you shift your body? A client in Gisborne simply moved her computer screen 45 degrees.
Now, instead of her face partially angled toward the customer desk run by her staff, the back of her shoulder was to the public. She could still hear (and help if needed) but she gained back 30 minutes a day.
And think bigger than just the desk position. Here's another example from Simon Lord of Franchise New Zealand.
"One of my favourite stories from the early days of McDonalds is of the time when the original brothers, Dick and Mac McDonald, decided to perfect the kitchen layout of new stores by drawing it on their tennis court.
"Late one night, they invited their crew to act out their roles on the court, making imaginary hamburgers, shakes and fries. The brothers followed them around, marking in chalk exactly where all the equipment should be placed, erasing and redrawing it to ensure maximum efficiency. It was so late when they finished that they left it till next morning to commit the final design to paper but before that happened there was a rare Californian cloudburst and all that remained was red streaks. The next night, they did it all over again.
"It's that sort of approach - planned, tested, improved and (albeit belatedly) documented - that is behind the success of McDonalds and many other great franchises. The best franchisors, like Ray Kroc who took the McDonald brothers' operational excellence and made it the base of the modern global giant, often demonstrate a slightly obsessive attention to detail."
We don't need to be world-famous franchisors to get value from attention to detail. Incremental changes can make a huge difference.
Robyn Pearce (known as the Time Queen) runs an international time management and productivity business, based in New Zealand. If you'd like a conference speaker, time management training for your firm, or to receive your free report 'How To Master Time In Only 90 Seconds' and ongoing time tips, check out gettingagrip.com