Well, you won’t be surprised to learn that it is not a happy accident & we all have an attention switcher in our brains called our ‘Salience Network’ (Menon 2011) that directs our attention between in simple terms when we have ‘something to do ‘(otherwise known as our Operational Domain) versus when we have ‘nothing to do’ (known as our Interpersonal Domain). It is important to note here that having ‘nothing to do’ does not imply that we are being idle or lazy, more we are not preoccupied with making decisions & completing tasks.
But here is the kicker…
One domain inhibits the other & we need them both to function well as a leader, but we cannot use them both at the same time.
So thinking this through if you are asking your leaders to do more with less, of a higher quality & more often then there is a good chance they are spending much of their time focussed on tasks in the ‘Operational Domain’ & the irony is the part of the brain that would really help them think differently & more creatively about how they could achieve this, is effectively shut off from helping them out . Sadly it often only gets its chance when your leaders are not at work (we’re back to showering & walking the dog again).
So if you need to switch up your thinking & create the space for your leaders to step change how they are approaching productivity or any other business problem you may be facing, get in touch with me at rupert@strongerhumans.com to discuss how I can help you create the conditions for generating better solutions….no showers required.
#strongerhumans #productivity #smarternotharder
