Myth of "Focus"

"Just focus on your work."
"If we could just get our people to focus on their work, to not be so distracted, we'd get twice as much done."
"I really do have trouble focusing at work. Emails, meetings, conversations, sounds drifting into my cubicle all distract me."

Two things seem to be generally accepted in today's modern work place. One, if only we didn't live in an information age so ripe with distraction, we could focus on our work. Two, such focus would be a huge boon to productivity. Maybe.

Our minds simply don't work in a vacuum. Deming used to say that if you were to tell an employee to "clean a table," they wouldn't have a clue about how to proceed. Do you want the table cleaned off so that we can do our paperwork on its surface? Do you want the table cleaned off so that we can eat? Perform surgery? Assemble microelectronics? Until she knows why you want it cleaned off, she can't work.

Our brains need a context, a purpose, an environment in which they can place our work. Without that, brains wander unmoored. One job of leadership is to create a context for employee tasks. This is not so much a matter of "focusing" on the particulars of a task as it is a matter of "connecting" the task to the outside world. Creativity is almost invariably a matter of connection - and that requires us to be aware of our environment, not disconnected from it.