MULTI-TASKING!

This past week was predominantly filled with multiple intros and coaching & mentoring sessions. A standout theme emerged – MULTI-TASKING! While everyone felt they were great at doing it, in reality, they weren’t. What was actually happening was…

• They had reduced productivity, and they knew it. Contrary to popular belief, multi-tasking doesn’t lead to getting more done and switching between tasks decreases productivity as it takes time for our brains to refocus each time we do.
• They had a lack of focus on key tasks they were expected to deliver on. Without question, multi-tasking leads to scattered thinking, making it difficult to concentrate fully on any one task. Lower-quality work and increased errors was evident and something as a CEO, founder, or leader of leaders, one can ill-afford.
• They had decreased creativity. The multi-tasking disrupted this and they therefore didn’t have the conditions or the space necessary for any creative thinking. Doing multiple tasks simultaneously really does inhibit the brain’s ability to generate innovative ideas and solutions.
• An interesting one was that they had diminished empathy towards members of their team. The effect of the multi-tasking clearly had an impact on their relationships both personally and professionally. Being an empathetic leader is crucial for understanding and connecting with others, and so you can’t not have it.
• Their stress levels were through the roof from juggling multiple tasks simultaneously. These heightened levels made them difficult to be around as their brain just struggled to keep up with the demands of their teams. Of course, mental and physical health issues were evident.
• And the worst of all…their decision-making became impaired. As leaders, they needed to be the calm in the storm, and the continuous multi-tasking led them to be hasty and potentially make poor decisions. Can’t have that!