Jeff Smith on Maintaining Focus in a Modern Work Environment
In today’s hyper connected workplace, maintaining focus has become increasingly challenging. A recent Harvard Business Review survey revealed a concerning trend: many employees and managers rarely or never engage in even an hour or two of deep, focused work each day without distraction. This lack of concentration comes at a significant cost to both individuals and organizations in terms of productivity, job satisfaction, and overall well-being.
, former global head of human resources at BlackRock , believes that addressing this focus deficit is one of the pressing issues facing HR leaders and managers today.
“The ability to maintain laser focus on the core purpose of any endeavor is so important,” he says. “It’s easy to get distracted, so I have to constantly bring decisions and actions back to: Why are we really doing this? What outcome are we driving toward? Keeping that overarching intention as the lodestar prevents mission creep.”
With over two decades of experience in HR leadership roles at major corporations like BlackRock, Barclays Global Investors, and Time Warner, Smith has witnessed firsthand the increasing prevalence of workplace distractions and their impact on employee productivity and well-being. He argues that in our current environment, HR professionals and business leaders must take a proactive approach to creating a culture and work practices that enable sustained focus. “Some of the biggest challenges the human resources industry is currently facing are expectations created by COVID and the remote work environment around being in the office, and balancing a high number of CEOs’ desire for people to be in person with individuals’ desire to have more balance” Smith notes.
The consequences of chronic distraction in the workplace are far-reaching. Survey respondents cited experiencing being overwhelmed, a lack of energy, stress, decreased efficiency, less fulfillment, and disappointment as some of the primary costs of their inability to focus. These effects compound over time, contributing to burnout, disengagement, and ultimately, turnover.
Smith emphasizes that this isn’t just an individual problem; it’s an organizational one with real bottom-line impact.
While he’s open to the benefits of hybrid work, Smith notes that remote work can present new challenges around focus and productivity. “Creating a culture with intention is much more difficult in the hybrid environment with fewer in-person interactions and more time on video meetings,” Smith says.
He argues that intentional culture-building is critical for maintaining engagement and alignment in distributed teams.
Drawing on his extensive experience, Smith outlines several key strategies that HR leaders and managers can implement to combat distraction and create an environment conducive to deep work.
Smith advocates for a disciplined approach to task management focused on finding the best fit for each employee.
“Only take on projects that you know are a real, genuine fit for your particular skill set and something you’re passionate about,” he advises. “Don’t spread yourself too thin across opportunities just because they’re there. Make sure there is an authentic match between the work and what you are truly good at and what energizes you. That intersection is where you’ll have the biggest impact.”
Creating psychological safety around someone expressing that they’re overwhelmed is essential. In the Harvard Business Review study, Rich Sheridan, CEO of Menlo Innovations, explained why it’s important to encourage employees to speak up when they’re at capacity.
“Most leaders want to quash bad news,” Sheridan said. “But bad news doesn’t just go away. Instead, it permeates the culture, creates quality and morale issues, and leads to endless hours of overtime.”
Rather than focusing on keeping employees busy, managers can ask, “Do you have the time and space to do the work you need or want to be doing?” During one-on-one meetings, managers should help employees address any gaps in their ability to focus on high-priority work.
While individual managers play a crucial role in implementing these strategies, Jeff Smith believes that HR departments can take the lead in creating company-wide policies and cultural norms that support focused work.
“HR is a business in its own right and literally enables every single thing that happens in a company,” Smith asserts. “It affects who you hire, performance standards, leadership development, aligning incentives and compensation, and creating the right culture for the business to work and thrive. It is something that needs to be fought for.”
He also emphasizes the need for HR to lead by example. “HR is so visible and so constant in its interactions with the business that people see everything that is going on, so it better be good,” he notes. By modeling good focus habits and respecting boundaries, HR professionals can help set the tone for the entire organization.
As companies address the ongoing shifts in work models and employee expectations, Smith believes that flexibility and adaptability are key.
“I am a believer in hybrids,” he states. “In the end it comes down to the job and the company and what needs to get done.”
However, he cautions against a completely decentralized approach to workplace policies. “The hard part is if you let every group and manager decide you will have uneven and likely biased processes and policies, so you need to balance that with some sort of central policy and have flexibility and exceptions.”
Smith argues that the successful organizations will be those that can strike a balance between structure and flexibility, providing employees with the autonomy to work in ways that best suit their individual needs while maintaining a cohesive culture and clear expectations around productivity and focus.
And while technology is often seen as a primary source of distraction in the modern workplace, Smith thinks it can also be part of the solution. “Artificial intelligence has the potential to support and enhance human abilities,” he says, suggesting that AI and other advanced technologies could potentially help employees manage their time more effectively and filter out nonessential distractions.
Ultimately, Jeff Smith argues that addressing the issue of focus requires a holistic approach that encompasses everything from individual time management practices to company-wide policies and cultural norms.
“Culture is everything,” he says. “It is what you stand for, how you do work, what you are held accountable for, and how it feels to be somewhere. Not all companies are the same, and one of the big differentiators is culture. Even if you don’t try, you will have a culture, so you might as well work hard to foster, nurture, and create the culture you want.”
Published by: Josh Tatunay
Originally published at https://nyweekly.com on October 18, 2024.
