A good leader manages attention
#work
I thought time was the most valuable resource. Recently I've been struck by a different realization: it is attention!
Yes, you might have 8 hours shifts, but how much attention you put on those?
How many times have I seen people loosing their attention live? Maybe their cat, maybe a person walking by, anything. Maybe they got hungry or wanted to be elsewhere.
Ugh, I also do that.
Distractions are bad at work
Specially amplified by everything also competing for you attention. From social media, emails, slack, reminders on your phone, your aunts good night gif, etc.
This amazing anxiety machines called phones are great at worrying us about future problems. Most notifications are issues fixed or issues for the future.
Manage your own attention
I've been struggling with keeping my to-dos clear everyday. I haven't found the app that works better for me, maybe there isn't. Who knows.
I found that what I need is to write stuff. To move it around, to focus on things I can actually I can fix.
Focusing on single items, getting them one by one has been my biggest hack. If I try do multiple things, I get stuck.
Another thing I do: to control every single notification on my phone. I almost turned off everything, even SMS. (Probably a post for the future)
Centralized communications is also great. I wish we could stop using email, but avoiding Whatsapp chats for work helps a TON.
Managing your team attention
Ok, managing your own attention is one thing. But a leader has to manage other people attention. How you do that?
For once, make meetings shorter. Plan your speech, be concise, and please be open to kill meetings that don't make sense.
Ending meetings earlier should be seen more as a sign of good management than anything.
You finished your point, let's go!
When dropping new work,
- Is this the best moment?
- Should I drop the bomb later?
People have issues besides work. If you're a leader, identify and fix those as best as you can.
Is your report's dog sick? Having a head ache? Feeling miserable because they need something? Maybe they need a break.
Same advice if you're the one suffering from something personal. Don't work! It's hard to deal with personal stuff already.
Good leaders remove distractions
The best bosses I had were good at removing distractions and paving my way out to something clearly important.
They were good at helping everyone to focus when things got complicated. Even if they had to bear with the extra load.
In conclusion, be concise, manage your own attention, and your report's attention if you're a leader, avoid dilemmas (dividing people attention too much), and of course, trust people will figure out the details and the rest.