What usually tops your agenda? According to our survey of 3,000 employees, the answer is likely to be ‘the task’: the achievement of, above all else, short-term tangible targets.
“Just as well,” you may say, because otherwise you, and likely your organisation, wouldn’t survive long. But what are the consequences when all you talk about is the task?
My research with John Higgins over the last two years has explored two modes of attention that we apply, both in and out of work. The first is ‘doing mode’, where we single-mindedly focus on what needs to be done. We see ourselves as standing apart from the tasks we are doing and treat the world as a series of things for us to use and manipulate. We tend to be concerned with control, predictability, efficiency, productivity and the impact that actions will have on us (rather than how our actions will impact others). This is a vital form of attention; it means we get stuff done.
The second type of attention is ‘spacious mode’, where we are more aware of context, we see relationships and interdependencies, and we are open to the experience of being in flow and to unpredictable possibilities and insight. Rather than searching for productivity in every moment, we are present, free of expectations laid down by ourselves or others. This is also a vital form of attention, and enables us to make wise choices when engaging with and directing our doing mode.
Read more: Why clever leaders must master the art of self-discovery
Many teams we’ve worked with are in a state of what we call ‘pathological busyness’, stuck in a doing mode uninformed by the spacious mode. One interviewee described team meetings as like “drinking from a fire hydrant”. The workplace for many has been reduced to an instrumental factory where the relentless drive for efficiency means that any time spent not ‘on task’ is seen as luxurious at best, lazy at worst.
Those in positions of power influence the mode of attention that employees apply at work. Whilst many senior leaders we’ve spoken to bemoan the busyness trap, they also, sometimes unwittingly, reinforce it.
For example, Tina, head of e-commerce at a retail organisation, is keen for her direct reports to think more strategically and pay attention to the group-wide perspective. She wonders why they aren’t managing their time better. Tina struggles with this balance herself as well, of course, so she employs a coach and works from home, regularly blocking out time in her calendar.
What she doesn’t realise is that, when she meets with her team, most of her questions are directed towards quarterly results, so her team assumes that results are what really matters to Tina. Sensibly, they direct their attention to what the boss pays attention to.
Tina only ever asks about learning, strategic ideas and team development at the six-monthly away days. While the team would love to block out their diaries and work from home, they feel it would be perceived negatively; these things are seen as a privilege of the senior executives.
How you show up affects the attention of others around you. Ironically, you may be too busy to notice the impact you are having.
To resolve this, here are some practical steps you could take, based on our research: surround yourself with people who help you step back and pay attention to a broader perspective: coaches, facilitators and skilled colleagues and friends who help you engage with the spacious mode. Seek out someone who you can see modelling being spacious at work, and who is doing it without being seen as being lazy, unsuccessful or provocatively eccentric. Regularly jolt yourself out of ‘doing mode’ by changing your environment, going outside into nature, reading something different or attending a thought-provoking conference – anything that expands your attention.
While ‘doing’ is critical, HR leaders, as key organisational influencers, have to access the spacious mode, for themselves and others. Amid the whirlwind of efficiency initiatives, perhaps the most critical leadership practice is the capacity to, sometimes, ‘not just do something, but stand there’.
Megan Reitz is associate fellow of Saïd Business School, Oxford University
This article was published in the March/April 2025 edition of HR magazine.
Subscribe today to have our latest articles delivered to your desk.
