In fast-paced environments, organizations must operate with speed and velocity to stay competitive. Rapid advancements in technology demand quick adaptation, agile decision-making, and swift responses to changing expectations.
In response to these shifting demands, most of us are working on a multitude of things at any given point in time. We know that multitasking can adversely impact personal productivity by as much as 40%. Fact is, multitasking is a myth. Or as Cognitive Neuroscientist, Sahar Yousef says, “In reality, it’s rapidly switching from one task to another, and then back again. And every time you make that switch, you pay a ‘tax’ on both your time and your energy. For that reason, it’s almost always more efficient to monotask: Focus on one thing and move on when you’re done, so you don’t pay unnecessary switching taxes.”
Intentional Collaboration
The same is true of our organizations, most teams multitask the same way you and I do. We rarely work on one core thing, as a result, much like individuals, teams often pay a shifting tax. Our research suggests that teams go through distinct collaboration phases to balance speed, innovation and execution. At times, they are externally focused on exploring and generating new ideas. While at other times, they are heads-down, with concentrated focus on developing out these ideas into practical solutions. Finally, once these solutions are built, teams turn their attention toward diffusing these solutions more broadly across the organization. The problem arises when these teams sporadically shift back and forth across these phases. Or, when they engage in too much multitasking.
Just consider the network diagram of the organization below, you can see two future technology growth bets from a larger division that are both in development phase. The first (orange nodes on bottom right), is designed to be a bunch of small teams that are deeply focused on developing their specific aspects of the technology with more than 90% of the interactions being focused within the growth area. Each individual team, uses agile methods to build and iterate with few distractions getting in the way.
The second bet (blue nodes in top right), is spending more than 30% of its time interacting with the broader organization (the grey nodes) trying to diffuse its ideas. The second growth bet is spending another 30% of its time external (not represented in the graph) with partners in discovery mode. As a result, the growth area is operating in mixed mode, or it is multitasking.
Focused Teams Excel
While it is true that every organization has to work across all collaboration phases to be effective, our research has demonstrated that when a given team focuses on too many things at the same time, they don’t exceed in any of them. Just consider the case above, growth bet one was able to invent four generations of AI technology in one-quarter of the time that most product development teams do. While, bet number 2, arguably an even better idea, eventually missed multiple milestones and eventually fizzled out before being decommissioned. Our interaction patterns matter.
Focused Teams Report Better Outcomes
Our research indicates that team members on teams that spend a disproportionate amount of their time collaborating outside of their team, or have too many external dependencies, self-report lower productivity and other related outcomes. While those with stronger internal focus have higher levels of self-reported productivity. Interestingly the benefit of internal focus appears to taper off as teams become completely isolated from others. This indicates the dynamic nature of teams. Suggesting that at times teams need some external focus to discovery and scale ideas. Yet, at other times they need to be deeply focused on the task at hand. Exclusive focus in either direction limits innovation, focused performance, and speed.
Speed and Individual Focus
Not only do teams perform better when they are deeply focused within the build phase, but focused individuals tend to operate at optimal speed. Individuals on teams with many external dependencies tend to be a lot more distracted themselves and focus less time on deep work. Having sufficient time for deep focused work is a strong predictor of self-reported productivity, speed and other related outcomes in employee engagement. Suggesting that within the build phase of collaboration, teams need support to stay locked-in on their core task.
Major Distractions on Team Focus
External distractions can come from a variety of sources including insufficient autonomy, resulting in dependency on external leaders, dependency on external resources, and team members being split between multiple parallel projects. Controlling for these factors is key to ensuring team members have sufficient time to focus on tasks required to achieve their core objectives. Methodologies such as Agile Development have long highlighted the importance of small, focused, and autonomous teams in promoting innovation within organizations.
Putting this into Practice
With the rapid advancements in technology today, optimal team performance and speed matter disproportionately in ensuring market success. As a result, these critical growth bets need to minimize the number of dependencies they have and be protected from external distractions. Consider once again, the case above and how the two different growth bets emerged. Both were deeply aligned and connected to the Strategy Office (purple nodes) to ensure that they had the necessary levels of formal endorsement, but only growth bet two was supported by an integration team (green nodes). The integration team acted as a buffer during the building phase by limiting dependencies and minimizing distractions. This team also played a role in the scaling phase, by helping the development teams to build out the bridging connections needed to help with future scaling. This level of intentional collaboration was instrumental to the innovation’s success. This approach is essential in building out the broader support necessary to bring the solution to market.
Here are some potential practices to help enable more intentional collaboration:
- Leverage Collaboration Phases: Clearly define and communicate the different collaboration phases that teams should go through, such as exploration, development, and diffusion. Establish clear transition points between phases to minimize abrupt shifts and ensure a smooth progression.
- Focused Team Structure: Form small, focused teams with clear roles and responsibilities, allowing them to concentrate on specific aspects of a project. Embrace agile methodologies to promote flexibility, adaptability, and iterative development.
- Minimize Frequent Team Shifts (Multitasking): Encourage teams to focus on a limited number of tasks at a given time to prevent multitasking and maximize efficiency. Prioritize projects and allocate resources strategically to avoid overwhelming teams with simultaneous responsibilities.
- Actively Manage Dependencies and Distractions: Regularly assess and manage external dependencies, identifying potential sources of distraction and addressing them proactively. Implement mechanisms, such as cross-functional integration teams, to act as buffers and limit dependencies during crucial development phases.
- Formation of Integration Teams: Establish integration teams that act as liaisons between development teams and the broader organization. Empower integration teams to control dependencies, minimize distractions, and facilitate the scaling of successful projects.