INSIGHTS (on leadership/self-leadership)
Harvard research indicates that your brain receives 11 million bits of information every second, but the thinking center of your brain can only process 40 bits of that. Said differently, your brain, as impressive as it may be, is a sieve. And the struggle to process all that information flowing in causes tremendous mental strain.
But there’s a widely proven strategy that reduces your mental strain – compartmentalizing your cognitive load.
Realistically, we can’t significantly decrease the amount of information we receive (in our in-boxes or at work in general) and still be able to do our jobs. But, we can organize our cognitive tasks in a way that allows us to better process that information. There are two elements to this:
1. Compartmentalize information/work activities into “buckets.”
For example, in one bucket goes emails, in another goes tasks requiring heavy thinking, still another holds things requiring immediate action, yet another is work related to preparing for a meeting. You get the idea. You process the information associated with each of these different tasks in different ways, so create “cognitively similar” groupings.
Then, create separate, dedicated times each day on your calendar to attack each of these different cognitive loads. Yes, that might be too much planning for some, but, as one resilience expert puts it, doing so “creates the optimal set of conditions for us to effectively process information and make quality decisions while decreasing cognitive load and strain.”
2. Avoid task switching.
With the different tasks placed and scheduled in different buckets, now be disciplined to avoid task switching (something that often takes the form of multi-tasking). Research from the American Psychological Association shows we lose an astonishing 40% of our productivity when we do this!
IMPERFECTIONS (a mistake many make)
Ever work for someone who’s consistently inconsistent? It’s FRUSTRATING.
Inconsistency erodes trust and creates confusion, fear, and a perception of unfairness. If you’re a leader, it’s critical to cut off inconsistency where you can. Here’s how.
Use the Path to Healthy Predictability – five steps to ensure you’re leaving a consistent imprint on people.
1. Put your priorities on a pedestal.
This means be clear on what your business and personal priorities are, hold them in highest regard, and remain true to them. Nothing creates more uncertainty and confusion for an organization than inconsistent messaging on priorities. Same when you act inconsistent with your personal priorities, like your stated values or beliefs.
2. Put repeatable processes in place.
When you have a crazy calendar, packed with unorganized days, it affects your ability to show up in a consistent fashion. You’re just darting around, making decisions on the fly, without a guiding process to help. It’s no wonder you can act inconsistently, you’re just trying to get things done in the moment (without regard to how you’ve handled it in the past). Instead, put repeatable processes in place to control the chaos, and to help show up in a steady manner.
For example, say you have no process for approving the launch of a new product. Every yes or no decision is informed by myriad different factors, every time, making it hard to predict what product will get approved for launch and which won’t. Putting a repeatable, new product launch review process in place creates standards and norms to follow – all of which enable more principled, consistent behavior.
3. Camera in the corner.
This is a simple exercise to help you mindfully show up in a manner consistent with what you intend. Imagine there’s a camera in the corner of the room, filming you, every time you’re giving direction, making a decision, or interacting with someone. When you, or anyone, sees that film, they should see you acting in a manner consistent with your priorities, beliefs, and goals.
4. Mind your mood swings and impulses.
Everyone has different moods on different days, which affects how they show up at work. This is about acknowledging when you’re not your usual self, trying to minimize the height and depth of the peaks and valleys you feel each day, and smoothing out your behavior swings. Otherwise, each day you’ll be directly affected by the mood you’re in – a recipe for inconsistency.
5. Foster fairness.
Perhaps the most frustrating inconsistency employees experience from their leaders is a lack of fairness. People can spot favoritism a mile away, and know when “punishment” is not being equally administered. They’ll notice when rules and policies are being applied inconsistently and when similar situations are treated very differently.
Instead, make fairness a priority. This includes focusing on diversity, equity, and inclusion, role-modeling respect for everyone, putting a transparent promotion process in place, and recognizing your biases while not allowing them to hijack how you show up.
So, walk down the path to healthy predictability, and you’ll consistently like the results.
IMPLEMENTATION (one research-backed strategy, tip, or tool)
Here’s what I share with newly promoted managers that are trying to hit the ground running and impress from Day 1. They can quickly lose sight of how they should be spending their time in their new role, drifting into worrying about impressing everyone from the get-go and not stepping on toes. So, I tell them:
“Don’t run for office – you’re already elected.”
Meaning, it’s all too easy to become “political” in a new role, trying to quickly impress the variety of new coalitions you’re thrust into the middle of, being careful not to mis-step, mis-speak, or turn anyone off. Understandably, you want everyone to like you, with as little friction as possible.
But you’ve been put in that role for a reason – because someone (or many someone’s), believed you could do the job well. So, do it well – to the best of your ability, authentically, bringing your full range of gifts and perspective to the table, and taking the actions you think are necessary.
Of course, yes, also be respectful.
But leave the politics for the politicians.
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