Focus in a World of Multi-tasking

As a leader, how do you keep your focus in an age of multi-tasking?

Multitasking may speed you through your to-do list, but it also makes you more likely to make mistakes and less likely to retain information. Here are three ways to focus:

• Think good thoughts. Positive emotions improve the brain's executive function and encourage creative and strategic thinking. Improve your emotional balance by taking short breaks and thinking about things that make you happy.
• Ban distractions. Be aware of what steals your attention. When disrupted, make a conscious choice to return to the task at hand.  This may mean shutting off your Blackberry/Smartphone.
• Leave things behind. When you turn to a new task, part of your brain is still thinking about the last one. Before starting something new, go for a walk, climb stairs, or do some deep breathing to clear your head.

Adapted from "Train Your Brain to Focus" by Paul Hammerness, MD, and Margaret Moore.

Being Strategic - The Easy Way

As a leader, are your planning sessions strategic or haphazard? 

Planning fails when it has unclear objectives, too many people, a rushed schedule, and is not strategic. When your school/organization faces uncertainty and needs to develop a strategy fast, do it the right way:

• Define the challenge. Your team can't settle on a path forward unless everyone agrees on the problem you're trying to solve. Once you are aligned, focus on core questions and avoid meandering discussions.
• Identify the destination. Define the future state and how to get there. Don't try to please everyone; make the hard choices that lead to a clear strategy.
• Develop options. Changes in the workplace or broader environment are inevitable. Come up with alternative approaches that will help you to respond to uncertain events.

Adapted from "Six Strategy Insights RIM's New CEO Can Use" by Steve Wunker.

Planning Strategically for Meetings

As a leader, are you planning strategically for your meetings?

From the moment you send a meeting invite, as the meeting organizer you are responsible for setting the right tone and making the meeting a success. Here are three things you should do before people get in the room:

• Clarify the objective. Make sure people know why they're invited. If it's to make a decision, give participants the time and materials they need to prepare.
• Prep important people. Talk with key participants about agenda items ahead of time. You may hear insights that could change how you run the meeting.
• Include everyone who needs to be there.  Think carefully about who needs to be there.  Who truly cares about the topics?  Who has valuable knowledge insights?  Who might bring valuable divergent thinking to the group?
• Expect full participation. Ask attendees to do their homework, come with relevant materials, and show up ready to contribute.

Adapted from Guide to Project Management (HBR OnPoint Collection).

Working On What Really Matters to You

As a leader, how do you know if you are truly working on what matters most?

Do you truly understand how you spend your time? Most people assume they dedicate more hours to strategic work than they actually do. Look back on the past month in your calendar. Add up the time you spent on your strategic priorities. Was it enough? It's likely less than you thought. That's because most people tend to do the most urgent things instead of the most meaningful things. Identify your top five priorities for the coming year, and each month make sure you spend enough time on those priorities. If you don't, it's time to cancel some meetings and build in time for the things that matter.



Adapted from "Make Time for Time" by Anthony K. Tjan.

When you need to apologize

As a leader, when you need to apologize, how do you do it?

When your school/organization messes up, avoid the half-hearted, half-baked apology. Instead craft a clear, strategic message that explains what went wrong and how you're rectifying the situation. Here are three tips for doing that:

• Keep it simple. Get to the point and don't deviate. Don't include any veiled attempts to shirk responsibility or appease people. You'll just upset stakeholders (those you serve as well as your own staff) and muddle the message.
• Mean what you say, and say what you mean. If you're truly sorry for your school's/organization's actions, say so and leave it at that. Avoid clarifying phrases and long, self-lauding explanations.
• Reaffirm your school's / organization's core values. Reaffirm what you stand for and communicate how you intend to bring the school/organization back to the values that guided it to success in the first place.

Adapted from "Smart Apologies Should Be Strategic" by Rosanna M. Fiske.

Improve your Strengths, Not your Weaknesses

As a leader, are you focusing energies on improving your strengths or your weaknesses?

It's annoying to work on our weaknesses: Who wants to spend energy trying to move from slightly below average to slightly above on a particular skill?  Consider focusing on your strengths instead. Make what you're already good at an even greater asset. After all, if you really want to make a difference in your school/organization, it's your strengths that will lead the way.  Of course, it's more challenging to move from well above average to even more above average, but you'll enjoy it more since your strengths are things you likely already take pleasure in doing. And don't worry about having too much of a good thing. Have you ever worked with a leader who possessed too much character or was too strategic? Probably not.  And when it comes to your areas of weakness.  Are you anxious about not having the necessary skill set in the school/organization?  If so, look around.  There is always someone on staff who has the very skills you lack.  Draw on their expertise....and watch them blossom.

Adapted from "Become an Extraordinary Leader" by Scott Edinger.

As a leader, are you thinking strategically?

As a leader, are you thinking strategically?


Leaders need to think.  We need to think all the time.  It’s one of the reasons we need to be engaged in continuous learning.  But for what purpose do we need to do all of this thinking? 

Leaders need to think strategically.  If you are leading a school/organization, you have a significant level of responsibility to ensure that you are leading for continuous improvement.  People are placed in roles as leaders not to maintain the status quo but to bring about improvement.  But improvement doesn’t happen simply because we want it to.  It happens because we have thought strategically about all of the factors that influence a school/organization.  One by one, we analyze these factors in terms of how they contribute or distract from the important work that needs to be done.  Furthermore, we analyze how these factors relate to each other.  Factor X is important.  Factor Y is important.  But what is the relationship between these two factors.  Are they mutually supportive or mutually exclusive? 

As a leader, you need to think strategically so that your thinking serves the best interest of your school/organization.  But how do you know if your thinking is strategic or not?  Think of it this way.  Strategic thinking leads to decisions that bring about improvement.  Ask yourself, Will my decision make a positive difference to our work?  Will my decision make a change in what we are hoping to accomplish?  Will my decision maintain the status  quo – and is that a good thing?  

Truly skilled leaders engage others in discussions that benefit from strategic thinking.  Engaging others in strategic thinking is an indication of your strength as a leader.  You call on the best thinking available to help guide decisions.  There is always wisdom in the building if you allow it to surface in a safe conversation.