The Art of the Transition
Transitions,
the flexible moments between changes, simultaneously shape the clarity of an
ending and the quality of the next beginning. And although the “big”
transitions at work naturally capture our focus and attention (e.g., leaving
one organization to start a new job at another), we engage in numerous
microtransitions every day. Examples include switching from answering emails to
writing a report; wrapping up a face-to-face meeting and then dialing into a
conference call; and getting up to grab coffee, only to find yourself having an
unplanned hallway conversation with a colleague.
Collectively,
these small, malleable moments have the potential to accelerate our
productivity or bog it down with inefficiencies, distractions, and false
starts. Being in conscious control of your transitions allows you to navigate
your day with greater efficiency.
Here
are some strategies to help you master the art of the transition.
Take stock.
You can’t do anything about a challenge
you can’t see. To more effectively manage your transitions, first take an
inventory of them. Of course, no two days are exactly alike, but even a
ballpark estimate of how many transitions you move through in a given day will
help you see what’s at stake if you mishandle and undervalue them.
This
exercise is about developing more awareness around the scope and impact of each
transition. It can be an eye-opening experience, as it was for one of my
clients, a senior leader who desperately wanted to get a handle on her
unmanageable workload. “I’m working on four different projects across three
time zones, so I knew I was busy. Still, there were more transitions than I
imagined,” she told me. After taking stock, she found that a typical day had
anywhere from 75 to 100 discrete transitions.
She
continued: “My head is always on a swivel. I pivot from planning and reflecting
to executing a variety of tasks. And because I’m working with different teams,
I have to approach things differently based on diverse expectations. Some
people want an email, while others want to hear my voice. Some people want
minimal details, while others want a complete rundown. From emails, to phone
calls, to slide decks, to meetings — the day is in constant motion. And because
all of my stakeholders think their projects are the top priority, I’m forced to
continuously shift among them to keep everyone happy.”
Most
illuminating for this leader was the connection between the volume of daily
transitions and the quality of her work on the days when her transitions were
rough — when every transition felt like a firefighting exercise, the results of
her efforts were inconsistent and suboptimal. Each haphazard shift from one
task to another often created collateral damage — errors, false starts,
etc. — that made those days feel longer and much less productive.
Take
a few moments right now to consider the scope and nature of the transitions you
make to address your daily responsibilities. Look at your calendar to take
stock of the categories (including scheduled calls, meetings, and working sessions)
and consider the white space on your calendar where unbudgeted time is invested
in unexpected asks, impromptu tasks, and unnecessary distractions. After a
first pass, dig even deeper to assess the before and after phases of the items
on your list to spot all of the microtransitions you make.
Cut back.
Although there are some external
circumstances that dictate the volume and pace of your transitions, you have
more control over them than you may realize. Every transition requires some
investment of attention and focus, so think of them as a cost — or
recurring expenditure — that should be wisely budgeted.
For example, a lapse in your attention
that results in a 10-minute plunge into your phone is not a reason to
transition; it’s just an unnecessary switch that you made. However, despite the
seemingly innocuous nature of it, you still must pay the price in your
efficiency and productivity. Research behind the fallacies of multitasking are
instructive here. Or, more to the point, the liabilities of multitasking are worth
reviewing.
But it goes beyond that. Transitions
are about both efficiency and effectiveness. As the late management
thinker Peter Drucker is famous for
saying: “Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right
things.” To make sure your transitions are both efficient and effective, reduce
the unnecessary ones and then get the timing right for the ones you need.
Recognize potential.
Once you have a better handle on your
transitions, you can begin to not only notice their pitfalls, but the
opportunities they present in the ways that they help you navigate your
obligations.
Take
this transition, for example: After finishing a 30-minute email sprint to clear
your inbox, you quickly grab your bag and head out to a face-to-face meeting.
Now imagine that your last email was hastily written in a rush to get out the
door. This breakdown could signal a disordered and inefficient transition;
indeed, after the meeting starts, you realize that a key point was poorly
communicated in the email or left out altogether. Or maybe somebody was
supposed to be copied, but he or she was inadvertently left off the thread.
This thought has already stolen your focus from the meeting. And if you have to
pull out your phone to resend the email, it will distract you from the present
moment while taking more unbudgeted time to make the situation right.
The
excuses we make for sloppy transitions are often misleading. “Sorry, I had to
check out of the meeting for a few minutes; there was an urgent email I needed
to send!” A more candid and accurate description is: “Sorry, I rushed the
transition between my email sprint and this meeting, which resulted in a
mistake. So I had to correct my oversight and repeat the transition all over
again! What did I miss?”
Microtransitions
often go unnoticed, but if you give them focused attention and manage them
well, you’ll avoid the frustrating and unnecessary duplication of your efforts
while getting more of the right things done. However, if the potential of your
transitions to keep you efficient and effective is squandered throughout the
day, the cumulative drain on your productivity is palpable.
Even
if you have administrative support or a subscription to the greatest efficiency
app on the market, you can’t outsource your transitions. But strategies such as
these can turn you into a student of your own behavior and help you discover
what the data of your daily experience can teach you. With this increased
self-awareness, you can practice the art of the transition in a way that reveals
important truths about your mental focus, perspective on priorities, and
engagement levels throughout the day. By taking stock, cutting back, and
recognizing the potential of your transitions, you can make every nuanced pivot
point a successful ending of one task and a promising start to the next.
Jesse Sostrin
https://www.strategy-business.com/blog/The-Art-of-the-Transition?gko=855b3&utm_source=itw&utm_medium=20180807&utm_campaign=resp
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