Focus Time: How to Improve Strategic Decision Making

A wise comedian said, “10% of the world thinks, 20% thinks they think, and 70% would rather die than think.” In this age of continuous distractions, even the 10% may be decreasing! My own biggest challenge in this equation is to carve out time to think deeply about the most important questions I face in business and life planning. It’s all too easy to get absorbed in the day to day routine, and bounce from one captivating topic to another. Focused attention is different. And it’s difficult. To have true success with focus, it’s vital to have the tools, methods, and disciplines to get you there. One key tool I have incorporated into my own life is the practice of structured focus time. Below is a story of a female CEO who saved her company from loosing millions of dollars in value because she took time to incorporate this tool. Here is her story.

Stop, Think, and Change Your World

Dawn was facing a dilemma. Her company had grown from a little start-up to a thriving business in a digital media space. Revenues had peaked and were no longer increasing. Dawn needed time to think about the future. She set aside a block of time to STOP and BREAK HER ROUTINE. She went to a private setting where she knew she would be undistracted and thus open the avenues to creativity. She cut out emails and phone calls. She committed to letting these pile up until 2:00PM, so that from 8:00AM to 2:00PM she worked alone. She turned her cell phone off, knowing that if she answered even one phone call, she would leap into a completely different brain wave and derail her ability to concentrate and focus on the most important question: “What is the biggest risk we face today as a company and how do we mitigate this risk?” She took time to READ, REFLECT, AND REWRITE her assumptions about the business. She recognized that the habits and strategies that got her company to where they were today were not the habits and strategies that would get them to the next level. Something had to change.

Here is the routine I coached Dawn to use for Focus Time:

1. Start by reading something strategic, perhaps from one of the favorite classics in business, Good to Great. Take forty five minutes to an hour just to get the mind in gear.

2. After that hour of solid intake, start to jot down ideas. You can use an iPad, but there’s something about the creative act of pen to paper that puts your brain on a different path. Ask two simple questions : What is the biggest risk we face today as a company? How can we defend against this risk and survive to grow again? Write out your company’s strengths, the threats, the larger vision. Then, let yourself go, and write about what has been gnawing at you deep inside your “gut feelings.” In Dawn’s case, she scrawled that the company could no longer compete effectively against the rising behemoths in the industry. Worse, she felt she did not have the capital nor the right people to engage in the fight to get back on top.

3. Take a refresher break after writing and thinking; go for a walk or do something that will let your mind roam and reflect. Give your mind the freedom to connect loose dots together. Take 60 to 90 minutes so you’re fully refreshed. Then come back to your note pad and begin to write down more ideas; put pen to paper and let it flow - honestly. Dawn recorded three brutal facts: 1. Her company had grown swiftly. 2. New well capitalized competitors had entered her market space. 3. Her revenues were declining.

Dawn came away from her Focus Time with one key question: “Should we sell the company and prevent the destruction of further value?” She engaged two key advisors, one of whom was a venture capitalist. He encouraged her to sell, giving a very strong rationale. She then engaged the management team, and through a series of meetings, all held in a short time frame, the consensus was that it was time to sell and avoid the risk of a major loss in value. The decision was gut wrenching, and would not have been faced as directly if Dawn had not taken the necessary time to focus her own thinking, listening carefully to both her rational mind and her gut instincts. Ultimately, the company was sold and she saved the company from destroying millions of dollars of value by trying to compete in a space that would have been nearly impossible to win.

The lesson is not that focus time always produces a great decision. The lesson is that without focus time, you increase the probability of missing a key strategic question you need to be answering and acting upon. Leaders must step out of the flowing river, move to the banks, and sit thoughtfully to observe what is happening. Through focused attention, the problems have an opportunity to crystalize in your mind. So ask yourself two questions:

Do you take regular time alone to STOP and THINK about the future of your organization and the future of what you are trying to create as a leader?

What is the most important question you need to be asking yourself? Write it down and then block out time to FOCUS, REFLECT, AND DISCUSS with at least two key people. Don’t let yourself get distracted. Be part of the 10% who actually think - and change your world for the better as a result. 

Cash, Career, and Calling: Why DO People Work?

Three key reasons people work are for cash, a career, and/or a calling.  Mike Morrison from Toyota Motor Sales put together the Meaning Meter.  If you come to work only for cash, it’s a start; you do what you have to do, but your meaning meter is not high.  If career advancement is your primary objective, it is certainly a responsible activity to work at bettering your position in life; but again, your meaning meter may be low.  However, if you come to work because the contribution you are making is a unique contribution to a higher purpose, your meaning meter rises. Today, one thing we know for certain: young people coming into the workforce want a high meaning meter!      

As leaders move people up the meaning meter, they create higher engagement, higher commitment, more innovation, and ultimately better financial results.  Why?  Because people put their hearts and souls into their work.   

A transformational leader is one who transforms what is potentially mundane work into purposeful, inspirational work. You may have heard the medieval story of the two stone masons carrying huge blocks of stone from the quarry.  A bystander asks the first man, “What are you doing?” and the man says, “I’m carrying this heavy stone and I have to cut it later in the heat of the day.”  The bystander then walks down the road and asks the next man, “What are you doing?” The man looks up proudly and says, “I’m building a cathedral.”  

In this story, the first man has a boss focused on getting the stone cut and pays for performance per stone.  The second man’s  boss focused on why the stone was being cut, engaging every employee around a noble effort.  The first boss is tough minded and expects an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay.  The second boss knows that as the culture of meaning is created, there is a higher chance the work people do will be exceptional, done with love and care.  

If you want to optimize the potential of your people, raise the meaning meter.  Create the knowledge, feeling, and belief people come to work for a greater purpose than just money and career.  For example, a health care provider taught all of the nurse’s aides about the power of connecting with patients.  Instead of just changing bed pans and doing routine checks on patients, the company invested in training around the soft skills of what they considered a “sacred calling” - taking care of people at their most vulnerable moments.  Nurse’s aides became important care providers in the overall chain of human healing.   As a leader, think through how to humanize and elevate the interactions of each and every activity.  You are inspiring people to a consistent and committed purpose.  

Three initial practices to get you started follow. 

1. Always start by engaging employees around the values.  Research from MIT Sloan points out that most companies have values, but the true leader  emphasizes these values as core to the culture.  For instance, if you are in health care and your value is to put the patient first, then all communication must put this priority front and center.  If financial goals are given prominence, they will displace the purpose-driven goals of the company. In other words, emphasize that the financials results are a natural consequence of focusing on your core values. 

2.  Start every major management review with a story of how a customer’s life was impacted by your product or service.  Ask a couple of people to come prepared to share their story.  At board meetings, don’t start with the financials.  

3.  Start with a review of how you are achieving your core purpose as a company: why you exist.  Ratan Tata, the recently retired CEO of the Tata Group in India says that purpose is “a spiritual and moral call to action; it is what a person or company stands for.”  People in your company want to buy into something they believe in.  They want to make money, but they also want to create a meaningful place to work, a stronger community, and a better world.  If you don’t model this, you are stuck with employees there to make cash and build a career, both of which are good enough. But is that enough for you? With courageous action, you can inspire people to engage their hearts and souls in a clear sense of purpose.  

Taking the High Road: Mindset Three - Humility with Strength

Sixty Minutes just produced a lengthy piece on Pope Francis and what is driving his world wide popularity.  He was after all, Time’s Person of The Year.  You could sum it all up in one word - HUMILITY.  It is the Pope’s humility that is drawing the admiration of millions.  For instance, every Holy Thursday, which is the Thursday just before Easter, it is an ancient tradition for popes to wash the feet of priests.  On Holy Thursday last year Pope Francis chose to wash and kiss the feet of teen-agers in a detention center just outside of Rome - two of whom were women and two of whom were Muslim.  It was unheard of in the Catholic Church.  So what is the message of Pope Francis as a leader.  He’s saying, “We lead with humility and in our humility we project great strength.” 

Jim Collins said a mark of leaders he has studied is humility with great strength or resolve.  Indeed, humility with strength is a virtue celebrated in every major spiritual tradition.  Humility says, “I have a special place in the world but no more special than any other person in this world.”  Strength says, “I’m confident with what I do know and I’m confident I can find the answers to what I don’t know.”  Other people can sense humility with strength instantly.  A well trained leader can also sense false humility - the discounting of yourself and being oh so very proud of the fact you have done so.   

So when you encounter a difficult person or are dealing with a difficult situation, approach it with strength and humility.  Remember humility comes from the latin word humus which means “grounded” or “from the earth.”  So with your feet firmly grounded,  here’s a way to respond with humility and strength:  

• Listen to the other’s point of view and respect the other’s strengths.  C.S. Lewis said humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less!  As Franklin Covey said said so well, “Seek first to understand.”
• Formulate your own point of view and articulate it carefully.
• If you believe the other person will listen, engage.  If not, act in a way that does not get ugly.  Look for a way out with grace.  Do not walk away with regret - walk away with dignity.  If you do blow it, find a way to loop back and sincerely apologize.  We are not perfect and 98% of people will appreciate your apology and move on.

What a perfect time of year to reflect on strength with humility - perhaps the most powerful leadership mindset of all.  

• Please note this leadership post is Part II of an original post that was sent out last week - The post is directly below here on on the Next Solutions site.  

  * Picture coutesay of Associated Press