![]() Focus is our ability to stay with single-pointed attention on the task at hand and effectively execute our priorities. To combat distractibility, we need the mental agility to shift between focus and awareness. It is following whatever calls for attention, without strategic focus or diligent prioritization. Distractibility – when your mind jumps from one thing to the other – is not agility. Information overload increases the risk of distractibility, making it hard to remain aware and difficult to focus. This can seem impossible when you are also inundated with information: more emails, more meetings, and more news. We’ll now look a bit more deeply at each challenge and offer thoughts on developing this mindset and managing crises with better results.Īs you lead through these uncertain times, you need to quickly zoom out to comprehend the shifting big picture and then zoom in on the short-term actions to be executed. To adopt an agile mindset, these three hardwired settings must be managed well. And they are wired for ego, the most basic mechanism of self-preservation. They are also wired for empathy, as this helped us gather in groups and create communities. However, there is a challenge: our minds are not naturally built for agility.Įvolution has wired our minds for distraction, as in eons past, constant attention to a dangerous landscape helped us survive. This kind of leadership demands mental agility. In the midst of great uncertainty, leaders across all industries are adjusting strategies and supply chains, rewriting the rules of operating, and sometimes making things up as they go. Perfection is the enemy of good when it comes to emergency management.” Further Reading On managing through a crisis, he says: “If you need to be right before you move, you will lose. Michael Ryan, Executive Director of the World Health Organization Health Emergency Program, has been at the front lines of several global health threats, including the fight against Ebola and now the coronavirus. Suddenly, perfectionism has become a liability. But in a crisis, when reality is changing by the day (or even by the hour), when there is no way of knowing with certainty what lies ahead or the best course of action to take, there is no time for perfection. Just a short time ago, pre-coronavirus, we seemed to be in a relatively stable world where many factors were known and predictable, and achieving success looked like the pursuit of perfection. To get all of HBR’s content delivered to your inbox, sign up for the Daily Alert newsletter.Īlmost overnight, the game has changed for leaders. In these difficult times, we’ve made a number of our coronavirus articles free for all readers.
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