Category Archives: focus

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workplace multitasking

Workplace Multitasking is a Myth

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Many people believe that they are multitaskers. That they can do two, three, or more things at once. Is workplace multitasking a myth?

You can talk while you walk. You might listen to the radio or a podcast while driving in your car. Some people sing while taking a shower, or brush their teeth while contemplating what they’ll say in their morning meeting.

Yet, largely, you still can’t do two things at once.

You can’t pay attention in the Zoom call while you are processing backed up email in your inbox. Both require the use of two different cognitive actions. You can’t do them at exactly the same time.

You might pay attention to the Zoom for a moment, and then reply to an email for moment, but you can’t do them both at the same time. One gets a momentary pause while the other processes.

Even job advertisements and job descriptions sometimes state the mythical skill of multitasking.

The brutal truth, no one qualifies.

Workplace Multitasking

Having the ability to manage multiple tasks or projects is a good quality and often a well-developed skill. It means that you can have one task, duty, or project happening, in motion, and then engage in another.

It doesn’t mean that cognitively you can do two or more things at exactly the same time.

Have you ever been driving on a busy street, felt lost, and couldn’t find your way? You study the street signs, look for a landmark, and try to calculate your next move?

You might also turn down the radio. It is a distraction, noise in your head hindering your ability to fully process what is going on around you.

When you want to do something correct, when you want the best result and need to apply the use of your best cognitive skills you should fully concentrate.

You can’t listen in on the Zoom session and respond to a customer request at the same time. Your brain might process a nanosecond in the Zoom and a nanosecond responding to the customer, but not both at exactly the same time.

During that very brief interruption trading one for the other, you miss something.

Navigating multiple, in-process tasks during the same timeframe may sometimes be beneficial. It might also be a skill that can be developed.

Solving a math problem while also writing down your grocery list isn’t going to happen. Not at exactly the same time.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.


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relentless focus

Relentless Focus, Will It Make a Difference

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Are you in pursuit of something special? Is it something that will make a long-term impact or is it more of a flash in the pan? Relentless focus may be the difference between a quick flash and lasting impact.

You can be a special guest at the baseball game and maybe even throw out the first pitch, but it isn’t the same as what the starting pitcher will do.

Perhaps you can whip up a pretty good Thanksgiving Day dinner, yet it probably isn’t at the same level of the gourmet chef who has spent a decade or more crafting the perfect dish.

Showing up for work each day might mean something, but it isn’t the same as diving in each and every day with a specific focus on accomplishment and impact.

Often the highest performing employees and businesses are the top achievers because of relentless pursuit.

Do you have it? Are you deploying it?

Relentless Focus

It typically doesn’t need much explanation. If you can’t see it, touch it, taste it, or otherwise experience it you probably haven’t achieved it.

Love it or hate it, Amazon, in most cases, appears to have relentless pursuit for the customer. Zappos has been known for this and so has Disney.

How do they do it?

There is a good chance that it starts with their strategic approach.

If the organization spends too much time on evaluating short-term cash, short-run individual winning, and short-run paychecks, the long-run will always come up short for the customer.

All of those things matter, cash, individual performance, and what employees get paid, but they won’t necessarily result in something delightful for the customer.

For the individual employee or the organization at large, what you focus on is what you’ll get. Sounds simple and easy.

Maybe it is time to take a deep dive and really understand more about your focus.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.


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project work

Project Work Will Put You In The Lead

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Are you ready to work? What about being ready to learn, contribute, or go the extra mile? Project work may be exactly what you need to create more success.

We might call work, work, but project work has a slightly different feeling. Thinking of work in terms of a project assumes that there is a beginning and an end. It is more than an ongoing effort with little urgency and a boring trudge that never ends.

Job Roles

Front line job roles often suggest they need self-starters, people who are motivated and people who show up both physically and emotionally.

Since it may not be described as a management role, it also implies that successful employees will receive direction from a boss or other colleagues.

Some people expect this style of leadership. They arrive, but they don’t start until they are given direction. Some roles this is appropriate for, but for those seeking more things are going to have to be different.

Should you start a project?

Project Work

One reason some employees never appear to be in any hurry is because there is always tomorrow. Tomorrow they’ll do the same thing they are doing now and the same thing they did last week.

No rush, no hurry, just another day on the never-ending project.

Workplaces often need more. They need people who not only accept direction and complete assigned work, but they need contributors.

Employees might consider how they can give more instead of doing less.

What if you took a risk to make a reasonable suggestion? A suggestion delivered with tact and respect not grumbling or aggression, might that make a difference?

Imagine if you bought a book that connects with your job duties or industry sector. Imagine what you might learn and how it may help you accomplish more.

What might happen if you asked about the possibilities of workshops, seminars, or other learning events.

How would things change when you do more for the customer, your team, or to benefit the organization?

When you think about it as a project it doesn’t have to be boring work that never ends, or a painful trudge day-in and day-out.

Have a goal, make the start, finish the project and then start another.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.


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decisions

Decisions Are Stackable, Like It or Not

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Are you making good decisions? Is every decision, every choice, a good one?

People often blame outcomes on a decision. A choice to move forward, step back, or perhaps go side to side.

Most fortunate, or unfortunate circumstances are not the result of only one good or one bad decision.

That’s because decisions are stackable.

You may be familiar with a decision tree. Perhaps a flow chart, or a graphic that helps illustrate the steps between the first and the last. Steps are stackable.

When you make a decision to enter the ice cream shop, your next decision is likely going to involve calories and sugar.

Sign up for a gym membership, and you’re probably in for buying some related footwear and clothing, then supplements.

Buy a camera and you’re going to need lenses, filters, and software to improve your images.

All of these choices and decisions are stackable.

Stackable Decisions

In the workplace or for your business, department, or team, decisions are also stackable.

It may come in the form of a good hire, or a bad one. It may be about the choice of a logo, a physical location, or the market segment you’ll focus on.

With a different twist, it could also be because you haven’t selected a logo, decided on a location, or because you’ve positioned your market approach too wide.

In some cases, you may be able to identify a single decisions that started a chain reaction. In others, it may be difficult to identify just one single choice as the culprit.

Lucky decisions or unlucky decisions are also often evaluated. The truth is, what happens next will have the most impact. Good or bad. The reason is, decisions are stackable.

You may be quick to blame a decision, yet often it is the continuous actions, behaviors, and choices that result in what you might call, the final outcome.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.


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your influence

Your Influence Is a Path To Accomplishing More

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Does your influence make a difference, or is it all up to fate? Rain dances to traffic jams, partially blocked grocery store isles to customer service music on hold, can you change it?

When you don’t like the weather, what are your options?

Navigating a traffic jam requires a lot of patience, there are only so many places you can go and likely there is no easy way out.

Hating those skinny grocery store isles and displays blocking your path, too bad.

On the telephone, on hold, waiting for customer service to take your call from the queue and yelling, “representative” isn’t going to speed things up or change your fate.

Are you wasting energy on things you won’t likely change?

Your Influence

Use your energy wisely.

Consider what you can change instead of spending your energy on aggravation.

You might be able to influence a mood with a smile. You might be able to change someone’s day with a helping hand, and you might be able to get where you want personally and professionally by using more focused energy.

Can you influence how you’ll do better the next time? What about influencing your own state of mind?

Chances are great that you’ll have a better day when you start recognizing how to best utilize your own energy and how your mindset impacts what happens next.

Reliving a bad experience isn’t going to change it. Learning from it might change future outcomes. It is a form of influencing what happens next.

Some things are within your control, some things aren’t.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.


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hard part

The Hard Part, How Does It Impact Your Project?

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Have you been thinking about the hard part? Do you tackle the hard part first or do you get the easy stuff out of the way?

A better question to ask might be, “What is it about the hard part that makes it so difficult?”

Results are results. The outcome that you seek, or that the project commands is typically predetermined. Contrary to some scattered opinions, most projects have an end in mind.

Is the challenge about the time commitment or is it a skills gap? Does it require extra resources or financial support or is it just viewed as not so easy?

Have you considered what changes would make it better?

Hard Part

Sometimes the hard part feels like the scary part. It is the part that you have been procrastinating about. It might be avoided, put off, or granted the wish of disappearance.

Disappearance seldom occurs.

Perhaps breaking it down, creating smaller pieces would provide more focus and keep things moving. Would that make it better, easier?

One of the hardest things about the hard part is maintaining your commitment.

Doing the work is part of it, yet, having the skills and resources may also be a sticking point.

Making your work better will always have an impact on the project outcomes. When the toughest parts get easier the return on investment improves.

It seems that the magic of the project is always assessed by the difficulty encountered.

Making the toughest stuff easier is likely the pathway you seek.

Avoidance and delays always require more resources.

Don’t add to the difficulty.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.


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network size

Network Size, What Is Your Viable Audience?

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Do you have a vast network? Who is in your network? Network size might be better considered as your smallest viable audience.

Have you ever taken a moment to consider your social or professional network?

Does a social connection in another country, a person you’ve never met, have value in your network?

If you are going to measure value, will you compare it with something?

A social connection in another country compared with a social connection who resides within a 50-mile radius of your home?

What about a connection who is employed as a front service desk clerk compared with the CEO of a 25-million-dollar business?

Should you be picky about your network, or just go for grabbing every person who will communicate with you or accept a connection request online?

Network Size

In business or professional networks, it often feels like size matters. How relevant is it though? Does it matter for your career?

Certainly, some of this depends on the level of engagement. Everyone recognizes that social channels operate based on algorithms. While the exact algorithm is a mystery, people quickly recognize that behind the scenes engagement or a lack of is being conditioned by the code.

When engagement feels slow or weak, many users seek to gain new connections. More must be better.

Friends are friends, but professional connections might be analyzed a little differently.

Perhaps understanding more about your smallest viable audience is the best.

Do you focus on people with like-minded interests, people who work in the same sector, or people who have a similar career or job title?

Are you selling, buying, or just building? Are you job hunting or only seeking collaboration?

It seems to me that the quality of your connections matters most.

Quantity is important. Theoretically, more makes sense. However, 25 quality connections might be much more powerful than 250 of which you have no common interest, association, or interaction.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.


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right attitude

Right Attitude, Is It About Your Mood?

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Do you have the right attitude? How would you measure that? Is attitude a mood, or is it a personality?

Describe the right attitude.

Would you suggest that means you should be friendly, kind, and have a propensity to serve?

You might.

What actions would illustrate those observable behaviors?

When you tell someone to have a nice day, in a pleasant tone of voice and while smiling does that send the right message?

It might, unless the conditions suggest that it may be sarcasm or ridicule.

When someone suggests a person has the wrong attitude it might be an observable opinion, which is much different from observable behavior.

Your mood may be a cause for your actions. Feeling angry, you may let other people know you are angry. Feeling happy, you may want to spread it around, get others involved, and share that experience.

How do you establish the right attitude or mood?

It may be what you focus on that creates the end result.

Right Attitude

Let’s assume you want to have a great day. Do you establish a pattern of actions, behaviors, and thought that conditions your day to be great?

The daily grind of your work can slowly erode the number of good vibes and replace them with thoughts of circumstances or situations that will ruin your day.

The boss is going to come look over my shoulder and tell me I’m doing this wrong.

I’m going to have to pick up the pieces and stay late because another team member is going to be goofing off all day.

The place across the street pays more, why should I stay here and have to work so hard?

How can you change this plight? How can you ensure a more positive attitude?

The simplest way may be stop counting the bad vibes and only focus on the good vibes.

You can do that by creating a win list. Write down the good stuff, regardless of how small. The act of writing it down will help replace any bad thoughts with more focus on the good. Better yet, put it on a whiteboard so the entire team can establish a similar focus.

Consistently being in a bad mood will create the perception of a bad attitude.

You can’t afford either.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.


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time data anchor

Time Data Anchor, Has It Impacted You?

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Have you come to realize the time data anchor? Time has value and your expectations for its use might be impacting everything you do.

How much time do you spend doing laundry, cutting the lawn, or shopping for groceries?

What about professional growth, studying a topical area, or how many years until you retire?

When you take your car for repair, there is an estimate on time. Sign up for the workshop and you’ll know a start time and end time.

In the workplace, there may be a time parameter for processing an order, talking with a customer, or a staff meeting.

In life and in business we cling to data anchors. That data or parameter sets the stage for how much, how long, or how often.

The expectation of time can be both a blessing and a curse. While it may provide some meaningful measurement is it limiting expectations or setting too lofty of a goal?

Time Data Anchor

Time is often measured with averages. The average time it takes for the car repair, your average wait for customer representative, or the average length of time to attain an advanced certificate or degree.

When the average becomes the anchor, everyone has a similar expectation and a similar result.

Why should the meeting last an hour? Would 47 minutes be better, or should it be 16? If you decided to meet for two and a half hours, do you get a more impactful result?

In some cases, the measurement of quality is calculated by the investment in time. If you whip up a chocolate cake in thirty minutes, is it as delightful as one that was created in two hours?

It is similar for craftsman, artists, and book authors. In some cases longer is perceived as better.

The opposite side of course is shorter. The drive-through restaurant, the boot-up of your computer, or the load time of the website.

How you spend your time may have a significant impact on your professional skills, your career goals, and what you will accomplish in the next decade.

When you spend more time on something that provides value with more use, it creates a better end result. You’ll have something better than average. Consider your job skills, the artist’s painting, and perhaps your fitness program.

The time spent in the drive-through line likely isn’t going to improve your meal, your earning potential, or your waistline.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.


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task force

Task Force Means Urgent, While Committee Lingers

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Have you been assigned to a task force? Are you leading one?

The task force is intended to be a short-term venture. Its primary goal is one of urgency with an expectation of being resolved, it is not a lasting ongoing group.

This group or team usually assembles quickly and then just as quickly dissipates. Having a spot in the group means your expertise is required. It is required right now.

The goal is to solve the special problem or need.

A committee on the other hand, may carry a lasting place in your community, a special interest group, or within any organization.

Sometimes there is a marketing committee. There may also be an event planning committee or a committee assigned to provide budgetary oversight. It might be an annual, seasonal, or cyclical activity, however, the essence of urgency usually only occurs when timelines or milestones start to slip away with limited or no action.

Which is it?

Task Force

Things that are urgent tend to change. The contents on a list of urgent items will shift. There may always be an urgent list but it won’t include the same contents.

When the manufacturer notices an emerging high failure rate on a product or system, they may create a task force to get to the root cause and provide a solution.

An unexpected virus, in software or in people, may require the urgency of a task force, not a committee.

It is important to recognize the difference.

A task force that doesn’t resolve the problem doesn’t usually become a committee.

The committee often lacks the urgency of the task force.

Call them by name, because without a label an urgent problem may last too long.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.


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