I admit it. Long wandering meetings cause me to daydream. So do blah blah blah trainings with no discussion and time for reflection. Both play havoc with my leadership focus.
Product development is always an attention-getter for me. However, constant communication through email and text impact my leadership focus, too. With no phone calls or Skype interactions and tracking systems, I lose track. This keeps me up at night because I care. I need communication and action plan loops closed to sustain my leadership focus. I own that because the buck stops with me.
If you are anything like me, technology either helps or hinders your leadership focus, too. New technologies do help. Let’s also acknowledge that leaders have a lot on their plates now days. With all the responsibilities you have going, it can be difficult to focus on just one task at a time. I use to multitask. Not anymore.
Multitasking might seem like a solution. Being a woman, multitasking is required when raising children. It is a woman’s strength. But multitasking only provides a false sense of productivity when it comes to leadership focus. You’re better off to completely focus on just one task and see it to completion. You’ll get more done during the day. The improved leadership focus also results in better quality work.
Four strategies for improved leadership focus
Here are some additional leadership tips that improve your leadership focus. They can lead to more success.
Know your true leadership focus.
As a leader, you most likely think that your main focus is engaging employees. Perhaps keeping tabs on performance metrics or putting out fires with customers is top of the list.
Realistically how you spend most of your time likely doesn’t reflect your true leadership focus. So, here’s a question for you. While you might describe yourself as busy, how are your days actually filled?
To stimulate your thinking, answer the following questions.
- How much time do you spend on social media?
- How long was your quick trip to the coffee shop?
- How many texts have you answered?
- How much time have you taken to clear your head to regain focus?
- How much time did you take to quality delegate tasks to your employees?
- How much time did you take following up with employees to discover any hurdles they are experiencing that is within your power to correct?
Busyness may actually be a sign of a lack of leadership focus and poor time management.
Therefore, to regain your leadership focus and get more quality work done in the day, start by tracking your time.
- How much of your time is actually spent on personal tasks?
- How much time is spent on developing your leadership acumen?
- How much of time is spent on tasks that could be delegated to other employees?
Once you take inventory of your time, revamp your schedule. Refocus your mind to tackle the tasks you should be working on.
Get enough sleep to build quality leadership focus.
Proper sleep is required to maintain quality leadership focus throughout the day. Paris researchers are studying the effects of memory retention during the different phases of sleep.
Findings show that deep non-REM sleep is important for allowing the brain to forget past stressful situations. Light non-REM and REM stages are both important for memory.
The connection between sleep, stress and memory is still being researched. However, to get your best daily performance, focus on achieving 8 hours of sleep per night.
Talk to yourself in the third person to build quality leadership focus.
Thinking of yourself in the third person seem odd. For example, “What is (your name)’s best course of action in this situation?” However, new research finds that it can actually reduce your stress and help to regulate your emotions.
A study from Michigan State University and University of Michigan conducted two experiments. They monitored respondents’ stress levels and negative emotions when referring to themselves in the first versus third person. When respondents referred to themselves in the third person, their stress levels and negative emotions were lower.
This is because it allows people to view their situations from a different point of view and outside of themselves. This is similar to how they would think of others. Ultimately this proves beneficial for handling stress and negative emotions.
So, to improve your leadership focus on the task-at-hand (whether stressful or not), think of yourself in the third person for improved emotional regulation and clarity.
Keep a written journal.
With the onset of technology, the art of handwritten journaling is becoming obsolete. People delegate journaling to typing notes on a computer. But if you want better leadership focus, start manually writing again,
Journaling is for many leaders because daily reflections create a better sense of self-awareness. It also forces you to focus on only the important information.
To make journaling a daily habit:
- Invest in a sturdy journal that you won’t be tempted to toss.
- Choose a pen that writes well and feels comfortable to you.
- Ditch perfectionism
Simply get your thoughts onto the paper to spark your creativity and revamp your leadership focus.
I get it. With so much on your plate every day, life can feel overwhelming and overly busy, which makes leadership focus that much more difficult. The solutions however, heap great rewards.
Multitasking might seem like a great solution, but it can actually decrease your productivity and work quality. Instead, focus and complete just one task at a time.
Some other leadership focus strategies to implement include:
- Know what your true focus is and making the conscious decision to focus on important tasks;
- Getting enough sleep at night for memory retention;
- Talk to yourself in the third person to reduce stress and regulate your emotions; and,
- Keep a handwritten journal to improve self-awareness.
With these leadership strategies, you can improve your leadership focus and get more done during the day.
Care to dig deeper?
Here are some additional resources that add to the conversation:
- What Are You Doing?
- Another Reason to Get a Good Night’s Rest — It Can Help You Focus and Your Brain Forget
- Need to Think Clearly? Try Talking to Yourself in the Third Person
- Doing This One Thing Could Help Your Intelligence, Focus and Creativity
- Melting Your Stress Within 30 Days
Copyright, TIGERS Success Series, Inc. by Dianne Crampton
About TIGERS Success Series, Inc.
TIGERS® Success Series provides a comprehensive, multi-pronged and robust system for improving both your work environment and profitability.
We specialize in training your managers in group facilitation methods that build workforce cooperation and high performance team dynamics. Scaled to grow as your organization and leadership performance grows, our proprietary Team Behavior Profile and Management training workshops are based on the six principles we have found to be the right mix to make this happen.
The TIGERS 6 Principles are Trust, Interdependence, Genuineness, Empathy, Risk and Success. Born from our many years of business, psychology, and educational group dynamic research, and subsequent four years of independent evaluation, we instill and sustain behaviors that improve work group performance and talent retention for measurable ROI.
TIGERS has served committed leaders who desire enhanced cooperation among departments, teams, managers and individual employees. This heightened level of cooperation leads to improved revenue, purpose, commitment and impact. Employees quit companies because they don’t get along with leaders and co-workers. Work culture refinement and behaviors that build strong relationships erase this trend remarkably fast.
For more information or to request a presentation to your group or association, call 1+541-385-7465 or visit https://corevalues.com .
