Leaders should promote signal and eliminate noise
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Focus in the workplace is both a precious commodity and an endangered animal.
Modern business can get very complex, that’s why leaders should keep an eye on the ratio between two things: SIGNAL and NOISE.
In science and engineering, Signal-to-noise ratio compares the level of desired signal to background noise. But I’m using it metaphorically.
In every meeting, slideshow, document, monitoring tool, report and conversation there will always be some amount of useful information and some amount of false or irrelevant data.
I would guesstimate that I could ignore 90% of the Slack posts in the channels I’m part of without any detrimental effect. That’s the very definition of noise. Not because it’s false, and not because it’s entirely irrelevant, but because it’s not relevant to me specifically.
Slack isn’t the only tool or activity that naturally generates noise. Meetings without an agenda or too many people does that. Another example is copying people on emails when there is no real reason to do so.
Focus in the workplace is both a precious commodity and an endangered animal. Noise is it’s natural predator. But leaders can act like game rangers and help their teams to constantly eliminate noise. And a healthy signal-to-noise ratio is key to a productive and happy work environment.