Your team is always working hard on something.
You’re working hard, too. Thank you for your attention in this moment. My thoughts on focus:
- The team’s default focus is allocated to day-to-day needs and operational requirements. We’re thankful for that. It keeps us efficient.
- Sometimes the organization needs to focus elsewhere. That important responsibility to redirect our effort resides with the leader. It’s not always easy to choose one good thing over another.
- Focusing the team’s attention on improving our efficiency is never the default task. It is rarely urgent, so it is easily overlooked. When we do give it focus, it creates significant value for very little effort.
As summer winds down, inviting the team to focus on how we work can be a particularly useful leadership practice.
Step One: Look around your organization and ask: What are we repeatedly dealing with? What should we improve to make our day-to-day easier?
Step Two: Invite the team to address it, even for 30 minutes.
Here are some examples.
- How can we reduce dependency on key individuals and roles?
- If someone feels we’re having the same conversation over and over, how would we want them to address it?
- How could we organize to address the root causes of repeating problems?
This might be the easiest work you do this year. Just choose what gets attention. What gets attention has a remarkable tendency to get better.
