How’s your focus?

How good are you at multiple object tracking? Here’s an interesting little vision test from the University of Guelph website. This is from Dr. Lana Trick, Associate Professor of Psychology at Applied Cognitive Science department. See how well you can do—and let me know by posting your results below.

I remember a study some years ago about eye movement and fighter pilots and race car drivers. The study came out shortly after eye-scanning technology became available. They found that while engaged in those high speed activities, drivers and pilots had LESS eye movements than non-professionals doing the same thing or engaged in simulations of the action. It seems the professional drivers and pilots were able to discern what to “focus” on and so didn’t waste time “scanning” around for things of little consequence.

That sounds like a good leadership skill to develop. There always are any number of things going on in complex systems, like a congregation, that are potential distractions for the leader. If we’re not careful those things can take our focus away from what we need to be paying attention. In fact, when acute anxiety strikes peripheral issues are intended to keep our attention away from what the leader needs most to focus in order to help the system.

So, it’s always worth asking ourselves: “What am I paying attention to that may be distracting me from what I really need to focus on?” Or, if we find ourselves over-focusing on a troubling staff member or acting out church member, we may ask, “What is this keeping me from seeing about what’s going on in the larger system?” If we don’t ask these questions we may find ourselves giving a lot of energy and effort toward addressing symptoms. In the end doing so will give little return on investment of energy since symptoms are not the issue at heart. It’s like putting a bandaid on a cut that won’t stop seeping when what we need to focus on is lowering the high blood pressure.

Here are some of the things leaders need to stay focused on:

• Vision
• Principles
• Emotional process
• Functioning
• Identity
• Challenge
• The leader’s own functioning.

Systems in the midst of acute anxiety will tend to focus on “issues,” blaming, scapegoating, re-organizing, micromanaging, and on “others.” And when anxious systems get willful–as they inevitably will–they’ll want the leader also to focus on those things. Look for these reactive automatic responses, and never confuse them with “having a plan” or “taking care of the problem.”

Leadership is a complex enterprise. And leaders often have to keep track of many things at the same time—it can feel like we’re a juggler keeping all those balls in the air. But effective leaders have the persistence of vision that yields discernment about what to stay focused on—and what to let “get by.”

“Cherish your vision and your dreams as they are the children of your soul; the blueprints of your ultimate achievements.”~ Napoleon Hill