Leadership: It Takes Focus

Jim Collins, in the book Good to Great, researched why some companies excel and others fail, even if they provide the same offering. He concluded that a successful organisation cannot be all things to all people and by using his Hedgehog Concept he concludes that rather than doing multiple things averagely, be “great” at one thing/offering. His research focused on 11 companies such as Kimberly-Clark and Wells Fargo highlighting his theory that success occurs when excellence is focused.

While many of us have received the message that for a business to thrive we have to be Hedgehogs, many of us fail to focus in our current roles and attempt to multitask into productively. However, for the acclaimed multitaskers what you may not realise is by doing two things at once, it’s taking twice as long to achieve results.

If you still believe that you are a true multitasker test yourself with the “Stroop Test” where you attempt to read words that are in a different colour than the word itself. For example .RED. (say the colour not the word). On average it will take you twice as long to read, process the information and react with the correct colour... your mind can only focus on one thing at a time: reading the word or recognising the colour.

Consider further how multitasking can affect your leadership role in the workplace. Research shows that if you work in an office you’re probably interrupted an average of once every eight minutes AND it can take four to five minutes to refocus after each interruption. Therefore on an average 8 hour workday you (and your employees)are interrupted 60 times a day and therefore losing up to 240 minutes or 4 hours a day of potential productivity!

In New Zealand, where most executives wear multiple hats and switching focus on a daily basis it seems inevitable not to multitask. However, given that multitasking can reduce productivity by approximately 40-percent according to some researchers, are you trying to read the wrong colours instead of focusing on the actual task?

Challenge yourself for one week to try a few of these tips and see if you’re more efficient.

• Turn off your automatic email notification, reduce interruptions
• Only check your email 3 times a day and respond according to priority
• Make your daily schedule and stick to it, include time for impromptu conversations with your team
• Take regular breaks, it will actually help you focus better

(to read more on the Stroop Effect, take the test)

Carrie Clarke