What’s the currency of attention where you work?

Seth Godin, in a recent post, “Managing urgencies,” encourages readers to shift their primary attention from high-urgency short-term issues to achievement of long-term goals. Real emergencies must be handled, of course, but sometimes the long-range focus takes care of the siren call of the short-term, step by step.

His post reminded me of the currency of attention at one company where I worked. It was a place where many good things happened, but at high expense, in many ways.

One person joked (well, she wasn’t entirely kidding) that it was a place where management expected people to “throw their bodies at the train” in order to get things done (and, at some level, perhaps to prove they were as dedicated as the next person who was also…throwing his or her body at the train).

In one particular circumstance, I was working with finance staff at some of the manufacturing sites. They were rightly proud of the work they had done to streamline, simplify and prevent future problems in the key processes they managed. They asked for a few senior leaders to visit, to care enough to stop in to see what they were doing, and to appreciate the future successes they had set up (greater capacity at lower costs, for one, along with increased team strength, satisfaction, and pride in the work they’d already done).

I was impressed with their work, their enthusiasm and how well the team was working, and carried their request back to the senior leaders.

Said one, “No…,” as he thought a bit, and then he suddenly added with a laugh, “I like to go where the PROBLEMS are!”

As he spoke, a picture flashed before me of a major night time accident being cleaned up, the injured being rushed off in full, shrill-siren mode, under the glare of many night emergency lights.

I don’t think he realized what he was really saying. And that’s that what he valued most – by virtue of how he chose to direct the limited time and attention he had to distribute across the many people he led – was to seek and focus on the drama, the biggest and, well, to him, the most exciting problem he could find to dive into. And then the he’d be off to find the next one. And then the next one, in a never-ending stream.

He was, unwittingly, rewarding problem-finding, not problem-solving or, better yet, problem prevention.

It’s the same way, Godin suggests, in many companies where the “fun” is in the adrenalin rush, in the uncertainty, wondering if the newest emergency will end in “high fives” or, “Well, at least we tried…”

When you think of your company and the currency of attention where you work, what do you notice?

- What gets attention? More specifically, what gets senior management attention?

- What is lauded, applauded?

- What leads to bonuses, raises, promotions?

- Is that what’s best for the long-term health and vibrancy of your company?

As you imagine the future if things stay the same, will the ways your company directs its attention, energy, and other limited resources (like cash) lead to more customers, positive referrals, and more business in the months and years ahead?

- If not, what needs to be change?

- Where and how do you begin to do that?

And if you’re not sure where to begin, let me know. We’ll start to figure it out.