It is hard to explain how I can be both "available" for my team and peers but also be "very busy" in the same instance. I don't like not being available, but a lot of the time the work I am doing is not evident if you were to just look at me and see what I'm physically doing.
I sit at my desk. I appear to just be staring at the computer screen, but almost always I am reading when you see that. I am typing from time to time, which usually does appear enough like work that people realize that I am, in fact, not just pretending to type. But you cannot tell if a person is typing a funny comment to a peer, or posting a blog, or having an Instant Message (IM) chat with someone ... OR if you are actually putting "pen to paper" on a very important note or presentation for your team, site, company, etc. At least 3 or 4 times a day I am actually not staring at my computer or typing or meeting with someone. And 2-3 of those times are not just me "zoning" (which does happen maybe once or twice a week) ... almost always I am seriously contemplating something relatively important (like a rep's development plan, or a call I just heard that needs feedback to be given to the rep who handled it, or reviewing more company-wide level material and considering how best to present that message to my team).
Enough rambling ... the point is that I am often "available" but "busy" and I'm not sure how to convey to people around me which one it is. I am worried that my facial expressions (for instance, when I am in serious, deep thought) make me unapproachable.
Either way ... I love the Dilbert comic strip above and have it posted at my desk as a reminder that I should just laugh about that situation rather than worry about resolving it. Lots of things in life are like that.
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