Flow Follows Focus

Daylight Saving taught me about focus.

“Dad, why’s it so dark today?” asked my son, as we walked home from nursery.

“Well, once a year we turn the clocks back so we have more daylight in the mornings - but it means we have less daylight in the evenings.”

“Oh. I do really like seeing the glowing windows though.”

“Yes, the light draws your attention, doesn’t it?”

Something in my head clicked.

No organisation has unlimited capacity. This means organisations must choose where to focus, and where not to. If this choice isn’t agreed and understood, it’s left to each member of staff to decide for themselves.

However, different staff have different values - and are therefore more likely to work to different goals. And, if staff must cooperate to complete work, a lack of agreement on the goal is likely to lead to stalled work and conflicts.

So, flow comes from focus.

Suggests Schragenheim:

“Strategy, with a capital S, is a plan to achieve the goal.

Strategy dictates a certain flow-of-initiatives. The flow-of-initiatives in an organisation is always internally constrained by management-attention. Exploiting this ultimate constraint is through FOCUSING on the few most promising future initiatives.

Thus, we should look for one key element that, once achieved, would bring the organisation to a new level of performance.“

So, as Goldratt reminds us, “productivity is meaningless unless you know what your goal is."

The takeaway? Attention is scarce, like light after dusk. A clear goal focuses that attention - reducing the chances for conflict, congestion, and compromised profits.

Note: this article was inspired by Goldratt and Schragenheim. Quotes adapted for brevity.