Welcome to the March issue of The Total Leader® Newsletter from LMI UK, and to the start of spring. It might still be quite chilly but winter is officially over and we're into a new season that promises lighter, warmer days and generally exudes a sense of newness and creativity. We hope this newsletter helps you as a leader to maximise the opportunities before you as we explore the subject of FOCUS.
The fight for your focus
We live in a world where many very clever people are paid a lot of money to create technology that will gain our attention, with no regard for whatever else we may be doing, and how important that other thing might be.
Add to this our natural tendency to be curious and responsive to the cues around us -
What's that sound? What did she say? Who is that passing my door? What is that delivery? AM I MISSING OUT ON SOMETHING?! -
- and you have a dangerous cocktail of distraction and disruption that is having a massive impact on people's ability to get the results they desire in their work, as well as in all the other important areas of their lives.
Furthermore, the conditioning that most in the workplace have experienced over many years is to operate in fast-paced, multi-tasking, hyper-alert mode, creating a near-perfect storm that means our ability to focus on the right things, at the right time, and for the right length of time, is extremely poor. There are multitudes of studies from all across the world highlighting these issues and their negative impact on productivity, as well as wellbeing and mental health.
For you as a leader, the challenge is to effectively manage your own ability to focus, as well as creating a culture that helps others to do the same. If you’re chasing up a team member five minutes after sending them an email because they haven't responded yet, what message does that send?
In our work with clients, when we encourage people to turn off their emails (as we often do) whilst they are working on important tasks that require their full concentration, the response is often along the lines of, "But what I miss something from the boss?"
This is clearly a collective as well as an individual issue, and it's why it's one of the subjects we tackle in our Foundations of Success workshop. Getting really good at managing focus and concentration is one of those foundational issues that plays a massive role in helping individuals, teams and organisations to succeed.
We definitely don't want our heart surgeon or pilot distracted - we want their full concentration - but we allow it to happen to us way more than we should. The ability to focus on the thing in hand, whether writing a report, being fully present in a crucial meeting or having a one-on-one conversation, is one of the key leadership skills of today.
An uninterrupted hour is ?? times more productive than broken time
Listen to Nick Howes speaking about the value of focus and uninterrupted time at last week's Foundations of Success workshop, as he tells the story of the interrupting history teacher!
(alternative link to audio: https://www.lmi-uk.com/the-value-of-uninterrupted-time/)
Concentration is key to economic results. No other principle of effectiveness is violated as constantly today as the basic principle of concentration. Our motto seems to be, "Let's do a little bit of everything.
Peter Drucker
The real measure of any time management technique is whether it helps you neglect the right things.
Oliver Burkeman
Take our 3 minute productivity diagnostic to evaluate your own focus and concentration and recieve a personalised report with recommendations for improvement.
Access your productivity survey here
Bite-size Total Leader®
Leaders are faced continually with multiple, diverse situations and developing in all four core leadership elements gives a distinct advantage - like an actor who can convey the whole range of emotions, or a golfer who is brilliant from the rough or a bunker as well as off the tee.
In this section you’ll find practical bite-size ideas across the four elements of the Total Leader® that can help sharpen your own leadership skills, using focus and concentration.
1. Personal Productivity
Practice going 'off-grid' for an hour, or even just 30 minutes, whilst you are working on something that you know requires your full concentration. Turn your phone to airplane mode. Close down Outlook. If possible, close your door or book a meeting room or work booth. It's amazing how effective these periods can be. Aim to do this once or twice a day if possible.
2. Personal Leadership
One of the things that this 'always on' world robs us of is quality thinking time. We always have our phones at hand to fill any quiet time. Try creating some time and space without your phone, just to think. Just 10 minutes in a comfy spot with a notebook to think and reflect often proves highly valuable.
3. Motivational Leadership
Think carefully about the environment you create for others. How can you help them practically as well as emotionally to create space for what matters most? Are they under undue pressure to be always responsive? Lead by example and champion good practice around handling interruptions and distractions. Transfer as much interaction with your team as possible from adhoc/urgent/spontaneous to organised/scheduled/systemised.
4. Strategic Leadership
Jim Collins has famously said, "If you have more than three priorities, you don't have any." Identify your top 3 priorities and commit the time to focus on these. Focus is often hard because we just have too much going on. Clarify, simplify and communicate priorities in order to help you and your team focus on the right things.
Leadership development is not a one-off event and leadership is not simply a role or title, rather it’s a way of thinking and behaving. The best leaders are Total Leaders® and the most successful organisations develop leaders throughout the entire organisation.
Leadership Survey Results
Read a summary of the results of our latest biannual leadership survey which highlights the key issues that leaders are currently facing.
Upcoming events
Foundations of Success Workshop
(2 hour online - goals / planning / time management / communication
24th March and 21st April
“This has blown my mind in terms of business and personal life” (Feb 2023 delegate)
FIRST TWO PLACES FREE FOR ANY UK ORG.
Total Leader Part 1: Effective Personal Productivity kick off (Online open programme)
23rd March 2023 - Total Leader® Part 1
Life-changing productivity improvement for you and the team you lead.