Productivity | Lorne Rubis

Do You Pay the Right Attention?

Accountability Contribution Productivity

Key Point: The ability to concentrate and focus attention is a vital skill for becoming a high performing contributor. Yet we do not assess for this capability as much as we should. The Attentional and Interpersonal Style Inventory (TAIS) is a very insightful self-evaluation tool. It is unique in that it incorporates concentration skills along with intra and interpersonal characteristics in its overall assessment of performance. To concentrate effectively, we need to be able to shift both the width and direction of how we focus attention in response to the changing demands of performance situations. The Attentional scales on TAIS measure two things: 1) Your ability to develop the different types of concentration required to perform effectively, and; 2) Your ability to shift back and forth between the different channels of concentration at appropriate times. Because TAIS measures the basic elements of concentration, scores from the inventory can be used to identify the specific skills individuals need to work on to improve their performance. The following are the key Attentional categories in the TAIS: [Editors note: High and low does not equate to good and bad].

1. Awareness 

This scale measures an individual’s sensitivity to what is going on in the environment. Low scorers show little awareness of what is going on outside of their immediate task, and may fail to make adjustments to performance. High scorers on the other hand are aware of what is going on, even when focused on another activity. They are sensitive to subtle interpersonal cues.

2. External Distractibility

This scale measures how easily an individual can be distracted from what they are doing by external factors, such as noise, interruptions and other activities. High scorers find they are fairly easily distracted from their main task by interruptions and may be more comfortable in one-on-one interpersonal situations. They may also need to stay away from busy or chaotic situations. Low scorers are not easily distracted by interruptions, and are able to keep their focus on their main task.

3. Analytical/Conceptual

This scale measures an individual’s ability to engage in big-picture analysis, planning, and complex problem solving. Low scorers tend to react to events, rarely plan ahead and are uncomfortable when forced to use analytical abilities for sustained periods. High scorers on the other hand consider all aspects of a situation and are able to put current events into a bigger context. They enjoy conceptual and complex problem solving.

4. Internal Distractibility

This scale measures an individual’s tendency to be distracted by irrelevant thoughts and feelings. High scorers lose their current track of thought quite easily by focusing on irrelevant thoughts or feelings and may experience their own thoughts happening so fast they cannot keep up with them. Low scorers can keep a clear focus on their current task without irrelevant thoughts or feelings intruding.

5. Action/Focused

This scale measures an individual’s ability to narrowly focus attention on one thing. They’re able to discipline themself, follow through, and to avoid being distracted. Low scorers may not be able to pay attention to one thing for very long and may fail to follow through or adequately attend to details. High scorers can pay attention to one thing for sustained periods. They are dedicated and able to follow through on even boring routines and can be counted on to pay close attention to details.

6. Reduced Flexibility

This scale measures how likely an individual is to make mistakes because of narrowing attention too much, thereby either not noticing other relevant factors or focusing exclusively on irrelevant thoughts and feelings. Low scorers rarely make mistakes because they fail to shift attention from external to internal and vice versa. High scorers make mistakes because they fail to shift attention frequently enough from external to internal or vice versa and make decisions without adequate information.

As the TAIS document notes: “It is important to remember that we humans have definite limitations in our ability to pay attention. Yet we forget our limitations. We try to talk on the phone and listen to someone in our office but no one can listen to two, brand-new, complex messages at once. Thus, we must make choices — choices between being aware of our surroundings, going inside our head to think, and following through on details.”

Character Moves:

Understand your Attentional capability and ability to switch and adapt to the environment as needed. Overall we want highly aware people who rarely get distracted by external and/or internal factors, but are still in tune enough to do so if necessary. Increasingly, we want people who can fully manage complex problem solving, chaotic situations. And we like people who can get things done, have a bias to action, and follow through. How would your rate on these factors?
Understand your capability to shift your attention from external to internal and vice versa so you can stay close to having the most relevant information to apply high performance driven decision-making. Know how and when to concentrate!

Paying attention in The Triangle,

Lorne

One Millennial View: My position usually requires me to balance two to four tasks at once, and constantly prioritize them in real time. It’s something I very much enjoy doing, but occasionally it can lead to simple mistakes and/or that “I need to take a quick step away from my desk” headache. I’ve learned that as awesome as it is to be “the guy” that can seemingly do 400 things at once, I think most managers and bosses would appreciate you gathering the time it takes for that extra “double check,” that cool down, that “quick step away.” It’s better than a speed that eventually leads to those dumb little mistakes. Those small screw ups, while also rare and seemingly “no big deal,” do require extra work for someone else (at least in my case). Everyone keep it cool out there, you’ll go home happier.

– Garrett

Edited and published by Garrett Rubis

Stress Versus Burnout… Below the ‘Green Line’

Productivity Respect Well-being

Key Point: Energy and mental fatigue at work continues to be a hot topic. And while I believe this emotion is prevalent at all levels of an organization, this feeling of deep fatigue is extra raw in “middle management.” Executives certainly have unrelenting pressure to get results, and this expectation is definitely stressful. However, these folks also have access to more resources that somewhat can mitigate the pressure. Middle management on the other hand lives with immense “downward” pressure to deliver on shifting strategy and tactics coming from a myriad of directions. And, they still have to stay tuned to the demands and frustrations of front line employees, as they too cope with never ending change. This “sandwich syndrome” can wind stress levels up and perhaps even accelerate burnout below what I call the executive “thin green line.” So, what’s the difference between stress and burnout? The following is from Melinda Smith, M.A., Jeanne Segal, Ph.D., and Robert Segal, M.A.’s Preventing Burnout article.

“Burnout may be the result of unrelenting stress, but it isn’t the same as too much stress. Stress, by and large, involves too much: too many pressures that demand too much of you physically and psychologically. Stressed people can still imagine, though, that if they can just get everything under control, they’ll feel better.

Burnout, on the other hand, is about not enough. Being burned out means feeling empty, devoid of motivation, and beyond caring. People experiencing burnout often don’t see any hope of positive change in their situations. If excessive stress is like drowning in responsibilities, burnout is being all dried up. While you’re usually aware of being under a lot of stress, you don’t always notice burnout when it happens. [See the table in the article for stress versus burnout comparisons].

You May Reach Burnout if:

Everyday is a bad day.

Caring about your work or home life seems like a total waste of energy.

You’re exhausted all the time.

The majority of your day is spent on tasks you find either mind-numbingly dull or overwhelming.

You feel like nothing you do makes a difference or is appreciated.

The authors suggest the following as actions for preventing burnout:

Start the day with a relaxing ritual.Rather than jumping out of bed as soon as you wake up, spend at least 15 minutes meditating, writing in your journal, doing gentle stretches, or reading something that inspires you. Or, end the day with this.
Adopt healthy eating, exercising, and sleeping habits.When you eat right, engage in regular physical activity, and get plenty of rest, you have the energy and resilience to deal with life’s hassles and demands. Careful about alcohol, and other mood modifying drug use! Be honest with yourself!
Set boundaries.Don’t overextend yourself. Learn how to say “no” to requests on your time. If you find this difficult, remind yourself that saying “no” allows you to say, “yes” to the things that you truly want to do. You can legitimately think “yes” and still say the appropriate “no” when you have decided to stop working for the day and invest in yourself.
Take a daily break from technology. Set a time each day when you completely disconnect. Put away your laptop, turn off your phone, and stop checking email. Take a break from back to back, non-stop meetings. Try asking people close to you about your smart phone habits. What do they say?
Nourish your creative side. Creativity is a powerful antidote to burnout. Try something new, start a fun project, or resume a favorite hobby. Choose activities that have nothing to do with work. You’re worth it!
Learn how to manage stress.When you’re on the road to burnout, you may feel helpless. But you have a lot more control over stress than you may think. Learning how to manage stress can help you regain your balance. Or, I guess burnout is ok with you?

Character Moves:

The most important thing is to be self-aware and to take control of our energy and stress management. How are we really feeling? What are we doing about it? Most times we have more control over mental fatigue and stress than we think we do. We do NOT want to get to burnout. We therefore have to INTENTIONALLY refuel DAILY. This isn’t just a weekends and holidays thing.
You and I need people. Friends and intimate relationships are not just nice to have; we NEED to have our “peeps.” All of us. Going it alone will get you into the burnout zone eventually.
Do not expect the speed/flow of work/life change or your workload to lessen. It will not unless you quit working. However, as the saying goes, “wherever you go, you will still be there.” So embrace the wonderful challenge of navigating stress and creating more personal energy.

Energy plus in the Triangle,

Lorne

One Millennial View: Ever have a more experienced person explain that “you don’t even know yet?” I find that this phrase is recurring and evolves. It’s possible we’ve been “stressed” since, well, confronted with any challenge or deadline. Remember cramming for that test in high school? Our college selves would be like, “bud, you don’t even know yet.” Recall pulling an all-nighter for that final in University? Our post-grad selves might be like, “dude, you don’t even know yet.” The fun thing about life’s previous stressful dilemmas is we’ve likely found a way to persevere, find a way, and make it work. If we can just utilize what we’ve learned to avoid a burnout, our future selves will laugh at our current hindrances, and say, “told you, you didn’t even know yet.”

– Garrett

Edited and published by Garrett Rubis

Energy Quadrants… Where Are You?

Accountability Productivity Well-being

Key Point: Research tells us that we experience four different energy zones and only one (high/positive) is optimal for personal performance.

Feeling overwhelmed and overworked is a common feeling amongst people everywhere. And when we hear about over reactions to being stressed out, (like road rage where someone cut off in traffic pulls out a chainsaw to make a point), well maybe we need to pause and ask, “What the heck’s up?” We need more self-awareness and personal management tools to help. Ideally, we can all spend more time in the performance zone and stay completely out of “chain saw” mode. What are the four zones? What can we do to spend most of our time focused on performance?

When we expend high and positive energy, we are likely in the performance zone. We describe our feelings as focused, excited, joyful, productive, and optimistic. When we live in the renewal zone, we are essentially resting and refueling. We describe ourselves as meditative, relaxed, and with Zen. Typically we are purposefully replenishing ourselves, and while the energy is very positive, expenditure of energy is low. In the survival zone, we are worried, distracted, anxious and on edge. If you frantically can’t find your house keys and shut your head in your car door, you’re likely in this zone. Being very combative and “fighting” with people you care about are other indicators that you’re in survival. Energy expenditure in this quadrant is very high and is also very negative. The place none of us knowingly wants to be in is the burn out zone. This is where we are depressed, in despair, and totally “fried.” We’ve almost given up and we are expending huge amounts of negative energy just to open our eyes and get out of bed.

Today, the world of work offers little institutional support for helping us stay in the performance zone. Most of us can work non-stop if we choose to do so. Nothing shuts down. We are always on, unless we consciously choose to stop working. There are no natural institutional “breakers” to help us rest and refuel. Switchboards don’t stop at 5:00 p.m. Work never stops because we always have access to email or the company data. Vacations and weekends are no longer automatic rest sanctuaries. We constantly are pushed towards the survival zone, whether we want to be or not. And if we spend too much time in the survival quadrant, we can unwittingly find ourselves in “burn out.” For some of us, before we get to burn out, we do one of two things that are usually non-productive: We fight or flee. So what can we do about this?

Character Moves:

Learn how to refuel daily!!! We move in and out of the performance zone regularly. Typically, we eventually transport from performance to the survival zone. If we don’t recognize that we are sitting in “survival,” we under perform. Usually it’s because our arousal levels and adrenalin is so high, we miss key things around us. Essentially, in the terms of athletic performance, we “choke.” We are so wound up; we can’t slow things down enough to be fully aware. We must learn how to breathe… Sloooooowly… Deeply… Daily. We have to learn how to consciously step into the renewal zone to get back to the performance zone!

Embrace meditation, yoga, better nutrition, hydration, walking meetings, etc. When I had my own business, and the only way to feed my family was to bill my time out, I ran for one hour in the river valley every day. Often I would close my eyes and nap in the afternoon. I was my own boss and self-accountable. Why should it be different in today’s corporate settings? Nap! Meditate! Have walking meetings! Drink sparklingly water instead of pop, etc. Do whatever you need to do to stay out of the survival and especially the burn out zone!! You’re self-accountable. If your boss is managing your time instead of performance, you’ve got the wrong boss!

Recognize that the only way back from the survival or burn out zone is to spend meaningful time in the refuel zone. Perhaps most importantly, the only path to high performance is to stand in the refuel zone, and then like a rattler, you’re ready to strike… High energy… Positive energy… Hitting “home runs” in the performance zone!

In the Zone in the Triangle,

Lorne

One Millennial View: This blog discusses personal choice and mindset quite a bit, but it’s because it’s just that important. Things can get truly stressful, hectic, and sometimes overwhelming… But, just to put things in quick perspective, we as humans are living in the best time there has ever been to live in, literally in HISTORY. Despite all the bad stuff that clutters our news headlines, it’s STILL the BEST it’s EVER been. A podcast host I listen to regularly once said something I believe in, along the lines of, “If more than five percent of your daily life is truly miserable, then buddy, you need to consult someone for help.” Life’s too good, manageable and changeable for the burn out zone.

– Garrett

Edited and published by Garrett Rubis

Intentional Goofing Off Makes Us More Successful.

Abundance Productivity Well-being

Key Point: Stop overworking and accepting that you have no choice but to feel overwhelmed. That mindset is a classic lose-lose situation. The people you care about, the organization and you, all lose when you’re in the overworked/overwhelmed position. I’m looking into research on this because it seems to be the current hot topic in many organizations; a mantra of, “How can I sustain this pace and momentum?” The fact is, overworking and the sense of drowning in work is not sustainable and actually is detrimental to achieving great results. The following is from a research-based article on the topic:

“Here’s how overworking fails our problem-solving skills and creativity: research by former Harvard Psychology professor Dan Wegner suggests that too much concentration on set goals can lead to the exact opposite of the desired goal. He coined the term ironic processes to describe the failure of positive mental processes when performed under conditions of stress. For instance, the more you obsess about having to hit a perfect golf tee shot, the more likely you are to choke; or the more you try to maintain a strict diet, the more likely you are to eventually binge. Similarly, the more pressure you put on yourself to come up with the perfect solution to a challenging problem in your work, the less likely you are to see it– especially if you are already tired, stressed, or anxious. According to a line of research by Jennifer Wiley, too much focus can actually hurt our creative problem-solving skills.”

Leaders need to intentionally promote fun and a reasonable amount of goofing off as PART of work; NOT something additive. And anyone who tells you they’re overworked or feeling overwhelmed needs support to determine how to do things differently. This includes building in breaks and intentional goof off time. I’m not talking about some projects/times that have a critical deadline or work under life-threatening situations. As an example, most tax accounts feel overworked and even overwhelmed during tax deadline season. They often party hard and take serious breaks after the tax deadline. And I know first responders can find themselves in situations where they are exhausted. They need to “come down” after an intense situation. They are aware constant fire fighting… Literally… Is not sustainable.

Character Moves:

Do something different than “work” during “work”: Resting, meditating, dreaming, going for a walk… Anything to “get your mind off of work” and clear space in the brain for new thoughts and insights. If you’re a leader, promote and encourage this!
Be social and take time to hang out with others as part of work. Socializing deepens relationships and strengthens bonds in our professional network. Instead of non-stop sitting in that cube or working by yourself at home, have that coffee and lunch with others to connect.
Take some time to serve others as part of work. Exercising empathy and compassion for others increases our well-being (and that of others!). I’ve been writing a lot about this lately. It’s important and puts perspective into our jobs.
Most of all, enjoy your time doing “non work” stuff during “work.” The time you enjoy not working on results is obviously not wasted time if it minimizes the sense of being overworked and overwhelmed.

Goofing off in The Triangle,

Lorne

One Millennial View: It seems some of the most progressive, best organizations out there all adopt this mentality. It’s why Google’s campus literally doubles as a playground. Yeah, yeah, Google might be the pipe dream, but even small companies I know about have everything from Ping-Pong tables to fully stocked kitchens… Why not yours? I know, sometimes it’s easier said than done. To put it in perspective, I work for a Bill Gates owned company, and I’m still dreaming that Santa brings my office a Keurig this year… That would be a nice start.

– Garrett

Edited and published by Garrett Rubis

Time to Stop Using the Term ‘Work/Life Balance’

Abundance Organizational leadership Productivity

Key Point: Stop the work/life balance debate because it causes us to think about life in a scarce versus abundant way. Our last blog on Flow and Funnel created quite a buzz. It reinforced my belief that people at all levels and walks of life are more consumed than ever. They say they’re, “slammed,” “crazy busy,” “overwhelmed,” etc. In fact, many of us have become trapped into starting conversations (including me sometimes) about how much we have going on at the moment. And perhaps too often the tone switches to us suggesting we’re out of control, or on some horrible nightmare treadmill we can’t get off.

Occasionally we subtly or not so subtly have a complaint trade off, one-upping each other on who is actually busier. Then the inevitable “work/life balance” discussion emerges. Complaining about time shortage and win/lose, work/life balance discussions is negatively impacting our mental health! I’m not belittling workloads or anyone’s “to do” list, including my own, but I believe we need to change our mindset and behavior on the topic. So, the following continues where the “flow” blog left off:

In his new book, Leading the Life You Want, Stewart D. Friedman, founding director of the Wharton Work/Life Integration Project and a practice professor of management, demonstrates that there are skills we can learn and apply to integrate life and work more successfully. Friedman profiles six very successful people who he says embody these necessary skills – being real, being whole, and being innovative – and helps readers to begin to apply these skills and strategies in their own lives. In a recent Wharton blog discussing his book’s premise, Friedman notes:

“I am not saying here that you can have everything all the time and that you can have success without sacrifice, without effort, without discipline, and without persistence in the face of disappointment. But what I am saying is that not only is it possible to create a greater sense of harmony among the different parts of your life while achieving greatness, it is necessary. The people who are most successful — even by external markers of fame and wealth and power — are the folks who are able to figure out, in their own way, how to bring together the different parts of their lives over the course of their lives. Indeed, it is their commitments to family, to community, and to their private selves — their minds, bodies and spirits — that gives them the strength, the resources and the support that they need to be successful in the professional world. Reason one was to address this issue of you have to sacrifice everything: Not true.

To think in terms of the binary work-life balance does not work because it forces you to think in terms of tradeoffs. [‘Work-life balance’] is a term that I have been railing against for decades, and we are making some progress there because more people are talking instead about work-and-life integration or harmony over the course of life… If your mindset is what am I going to have — work or life — then you are always thinking in terms of what you have to give up.”

By thinking in terms of more, of being abundant versus scarce, the discussion becomes more about flow and integration versus trading one thing for the other.

Character Moves:

Move number one involves changing your mindset to be more abundant and it comes from Friedman: “We really have to be focusing the conversation on what I refer to as four-way wins: Things that you can do that are within your control that enable you to create value in some way and demonstrably improve results not just at work, not just for yourself, not just for your community, not just for your family, but for all four. What I have discovered in asking that question of students and clients around the world — tens of thousands of them now — is that everybody can answer that question with an affirmative response: Here is something I can try!”
Recognize that EVERYONE is living a life where they have lots going on, including every day “ups and downs,” etc. Try to avoid and eventually STOP using the “busy,” “slammed,” statements as conversation starters. Instead, consider talking about what you’re doing that has meaning to you, is creating value for others and what you’re doing to actually do MORE of.
Read Friedman’s book. Take his online survey to learn more how think and act about leading the life you want… Now! You know, if you’re not too “slammed” or “busy” to do so.

Living the life in the Triangle,

Lorne

One Millennial View: “Busy” is a laughable excuse. Sure, there are times of the day when we’re “too busy” to return that text or make plans… But let’s get real. We’re also streaming plenty of Netflix. We all need those escapes, alone time, and the “busy” excuse isn’t going anywhere. It’s understandable. But, little by little, everyone’s starting to become aware just how B.S. it is… If something’s important to you, you maneuver your work/life schedule to make time for it.

– Garrett

Edited and published by Garrett Rubis.

Funnel, Focus and Flow

Abundance Organizational leadership Productivity

Key Point: How do we manage not feeling overwhelmed at work? When will things slow down? When will we have the right balance? When will someone set the priorities and tell us what’s most important so we can put tasks in order? When will priorities stop changing so dramatically?

I hear this type of discussion all the time at every level of all organizations. Literally, everyone feels swamped, and most of us question our capacity to sustain the relentless expenditure of our personal resources. And I’m not sure there is a completely satisfactory answer to this debate… However, there may be ways to calm the overflow a little? Or even a lot?

To some extent we are all FUNNELS. Each of has a limited capacity. At the same time, there is likely to be even more pouring into the FUNNEL in the future, not less. Technology, Moore’s Law and what is becoming an even more turbulent, borderless, flat, economic and geopolitical world, translates and tumbles into our daily work and lives in the form of relentless, continuous change. And when the mouth of the FUNNEL is limited by resources, (time, money, people, etc), it is natural to want to adjust it by expanding resources and/or lessening the volume. Yet, there is only so much fiddling with top of the FUNNEL we can do. The conclusion is almost always the same. Too much stuff… Too small of a funnel. So how do we cope?

My view is that trying to narrow or constrict what comes in at the top may help with focus, but it does little to help with capacity. My argument is to turn our attention toward how stuff gets through more than fussing exclusively about managing the “top.” We might get more return by attacking and improving FLOW through the funnel. As an example, asking the IT department to do less these days is literally a big fat waste of time. The projects and needs are always outstripping capacity at the top of the funnel. And delaying people who have projects circling around the top is like air traffic control making it more “reasonable” by restricting access to runways and allowing planes to land only at certain times. Yet, there is usually a natural limit to the top of the funnel due to limited resources.

The same metaphor applies to us individually. We may have more capacity if we urgently and relentlessly improve FLOW. That is, if we allow “stuff” to flow through the funnel easier, faster, with less resistance and destructive conflict, it helps us reframe the way we feel about the amount. The momentum of positive flow normally positions both the organization and individual to be in an advantageous space. Life will be no less turbulent, and no less resource constrained. But the speed of flow to achieve results is much smoother.

Character Moves:

Learn to get more results done by improving flow first. Find new and better ways. For an organization, this means breaking down stupid barriers, rules, policies and structures that restrict rather than accelerate. As an individual, find ways to better learn, self improve, communicate, develop relationships and get results. Time is a reality, not an excuse. Stop whining and blaming everything else on “can’t.” You’re the only one capable of establishing balance.
Choosing and determining priorities to control your own your agenda is a great joy in life. Before full technological mobility, time away from work meant rest. The decision to not “do work” was easy. Someone set hours, controlled overtime, and locked workspaces. Today, many of us are able to decide when it’s “enough.” Yay! We’re not going back and FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) is a mindset matter. That’s what self-accountability is about.
Create meaningful value for yourself and others or stop doing it. That’s the best filter at the top of the funnel. Focusing and flowing… It’s not perfect but a better answer than hand wringing and hoping for the day the merry go round stops… Don’t worry; it will stop permanently sooner than you can blink. In the mean time… 🙂

Flow focused in the Triangle,

Lorne

One Millennial View: I’m a fan of asking questions… What’s most important? What can wait? What can I do to contribute in the best way right now? Maybe that’ll help change what kind of “ingredients” that are added to your funnel. Maybe next time it’ll be more premium stuff.

– Garrett

Edited and published by Garrett Rubis