By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, FAAN
“It takes effort to switch from focusing on tasks to connecting with people.” Joshua Freeman
Most of us know that our ability to fully concentrate on what we are doing leads to better outcomes. In today’s busy world, nurse leaders are buried with distracting communication and an endless stream of urgent issues. This pace and activity can become habit, and the ability to concentrate becomes more difficult. Few competency models have the ability to focus as a key leadership behavior. Yet in a new book titled Focus, the well known author Daniel Goleman suggests that focus is a key driver of excellence. Focus, he proposes, is like a muscle which becomes stronger over time with practice. It is not always the external distractors that cause us to lose focus but sometimes it is the chatter of our own mind. Learning to control our internal chatter and improving our ability to focus is a key nursing leadership skill.
Goleman suggests that there are three types of focus. The first is “inner” focus or our ability to focus on self-awareness and self-management. The second is “other” focus which describes how well we attune to other people, how they perceive things and how they feel. The third focus is “outer” focus or our ability to sense the changes that shape our world – whether it be the politics in our organizations or market trends. Some people have remarkable inner focus but less ability to focus on the needs of others. All three types of focus are needed to be a successful leader. He suggests that attention has come under siege with the implementations of technology such as email, texts and social networking. It is possible to improve your ability to focus but this takes practice.
5 Strategies to Improve your Ability to Focus
1. Pay full attention – this may sound easy but staying on one task or one conversation may prove more challenging than you think. Force yourself to do one thing at a time for a portion of your day.
2. Put strict limits on your use of email and social networking sites – the constant checking of email and social networking sites while negotiating other tasks has become routine in today’s world. Just sit back and observe this behavior at any work meeting or social gathering. Multitasking is an illusion when we are not giving our full attention to any of the activities that we are involved in.
3. Choose something that you would like to become better at (could be personal or work) and spend focus time to develop your skill – many experts suggest that it takes 10,000 hours of focused practice to become an expert.
4. Meditate – mindful meditation is an excellent strategy to develop your skill in focusing on one thing at a time. For some, yoga or walking can provide the same results.
5. Reflect on your leadership – take at least 15 minutes every day to think about your leadership. What are you doing well? Where would you like to improve? What is changing in your environment that may require a different leadership approach.
As ironic as it may sound, sometime doing less results in better outcomes because we are more attentive to what we are doing. As challenging as it might seem, nurse leaders need to manage their settings instead of letting them manage their attention. Innovation is a high priority in our world health reform. When looking for creative insight, Goleman suggests that it is best to immerse yourself in the problem with a full focus. It is then that your ideas will flow.
Goleman, D. (2013). Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence. New York: Harper Publishers.
© emergingrnleader.com 2013
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