The fun part about our job is being exposed to a number of different industries and organizations. One of my favorite things to say is, “I’ve worked in Nuclear Power Stations, and in grocery stores, and 90% of the management issues are the same.” I usually get significant pushback from the Nuclear Engineers on this one, but it’s true.
Often the response I get from this statement is a question about the most common thread that weaves organizations and their performance together. The answer, quite simply, is “Focus”. The great performing organizations define and continually refine the limited number of things they need to do well, and then execute those things.
The reason people lose focus is because they get so busy managing tasks, they forget to look up every now and then and make sure they are doing the right things. Or, as I like to say, “They are so busy doing their jobs, they forget to do their jobs.”
As a busy manager, the next time you feel more overwhelmed with work than the bartender on the Kennedy Compound, spend a couple of minutes to review what your top 3 to 7 objectives for the year are. What are you doing to achieve those objectives this week? Better yet, review your top objectives every day before you start diving into tasks.
If you find yourself involved in meetings and activities that have nothing to do with those 3 to 7 objectives, then you need to question what you’re doing. Worse yet, if find yourself with 25 or 30 objectives, you need to go back to drawing board, and transform your laundry list into a more manageable, critical action list.
Achieving focus is conceptually very easy, but requires a lot of discipline to do well.