One Magic Phrase For Senior Leaders To Increase Focus and Productivity

That magic phrase is Context-Switching. I heard this phrase first from @ Duy Dang when we met at The Keynote Academy. I found the ‘Context-Switching’ phrase fascinating because I felt it is a fabulous reminder for troubled, hassled and hurried leaders to refocus their efforts amidst their never-ending-to-do lists and hopping from one meeting to another throughout the day (and weeks and months). If you are facing such a situation, try context-switching.

What’s Context-Switching?

The term originates from Computers.

A context switch is a procedure that a computer’s CPU (central processing unit) follows to change from one task (or process) to another while ensuring that the tasks do not conflict. Effective context switching is critical if a computer is to provide user-friendly multitasking.

Our brains are like computers. Isn’t it?

How can you do Context-Switching?

Senior executives are constantly bombarded with a series of different contexts. For example:

• Mediating an unresolved conflict between two project teams
• Meeting to discuss the strategic vision of the division
• A direct report challenging the rationale behind assigning her a new role without an increase in compensation
• A call from a friend for next week’s meet-up
• The chairman asking for a status report for the deliverables you promised last month
• When you reach home, you are facing yet another context, another circumstance

{ All this on a normal day where you didn’t have any emergencies}

This uses mental space. If you pay close attention, you will soon realise that some meetings continue to run, hours after it ends! Where does it run? In the back of your head, like a background task on a computer. During the fourth meeting, the first meeting is still running silently interrupting your thought processes… and then, the to-do items from yesterday. Your mind goes off tangents. Even though you are trying hard to be present, you can’t. That costs you. How does that cost you? When you are forcing yourself to concentrate, you use up your willpower. Willpower drains like a charged phone battery. The more you use it, the less you have it — until you recharge it. ( I noticed that I use too much willpower on the days I drive — one of the reasons for my preference for walking or using public transport.).

From my leadership coaching sessions, I notice that effective senior leaders do some of the following for conscious context-switching. You can choose to model after them. Perhaps, you need a combination of these or more, depending on your situation.

• Set an Intention: After each meeting or interaction or phone call, snap your fingers or clap your hands and say “That’s over. Let’s tackle the next.” It doesn’t matter what exactly you say, the intention you set is to focus forward and not look back.
• You heard this before. Meditate — but, wait! Meditation doesn’t have to be hard. Take few deep breaths and focus on your breath for a minute or two. This helps to shift mental focus from thoughts to breath, reducing the energy available for energy-consuming background tasks. If your background tasks are not shut down, this should at least slow it down a bit!
• Think about what you are going to achieve in the next context (meeting/interaction/phone call etc.). Does this again shift focus from what’s past to what’s coming?
• Create Conscious Distraction: Years ago, one of my friends, who is a leader at Google, told me that he plays games on his phone, play slot machines, or ping-pong, before he heads back home at the end of the day. He said, “That helps to forget what’s past and focus more on home”. That’s in fact, Context-Switching. What can you do, that will take your mind off your problems and stay focused? Other options include reading, listening to music, exercise, sports, walk in the park, chat with a good friend, socialising with like-minded people etc. Such conscious distractions help your mind from going out of control. Jim Rohn said, “I am so busy and I have no time. Therefore, I have to exercise!”

The techniques could vary, the results may not be consistent, but the intent is the same. Shut down those unnecessary and unproductive background tasks that drain your energy. Thinking, brooding, worrying, ruminating doesn’t solve problems, it often aggravates them. Context-Switching allows you to increase your focus and productivity because it gives you the time and space to think clearly and act wisely.

Some problems even solve by themselves, if you give them enough time. As Mark Twain said

I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.

I had planned to write this article a long time ago after. A recent delay I had in Context-Switching reminded me to write this article to share this idea with others.

What are your views on this? What other Context-Switching techniques can you think of?

Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com/in/manojthecoach/.