Managing Human Energy With Technology

 

How much does technology distract you and your team? Getting to a place where technology benefits focus and attention has proven elusive for most. What if you could learn to use technology to better manage the human energy of your team?

 

What Is Human Energy?

Human energy is more than just focus, attention, and creativity. It’s also emotional, cognitive, and physical energy. 

Gino Wickman has long taught that EOS® is, at its core, a system for managing human energy. EOS helps business leaders get all their people rowing in the same direction by having the company vision Shared By All.  

Every Rock, goal, and to-do should move the organization toward achieving that vision. Yet if we’re constantly distracted by technology’s bells, buzzes, and flashing notifications, how can the leaders of an organization ever hope to achieve, well, anything?

 

Michael Posner, emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Oregon, found that if you’re focusing on something and you get interrupted by a simple vibration of a phone nearby, it will take 23 minutes to get back to the same state of focus.

 

If no one can focus with sustained attention, they’ll never achieve what they want from their business or their lives. Digital technology’s ubiquity challenges our ability to focus and be productive. Yet, it allows us to increase our productivity… if we can manage and control it instead of it controlling us. How do we harness the power of technology without the downsides?

 

Turning a Challenge Into an Opportunity

Gloria Mark, professor of informatics at the University of California, Irvine, did an in-depth study on adults. She discovered that the average time someone can focus on one thing is less than three minutes before a ping or ding takes them off course.

 

Technology is a part of our everyday lives, and we can’t ignore it. So, how do we leverage tech without disrupting our human energy?

 

A synchronized working environment gets virtual teams in a shared flow state to help harness their human energy rather than disrupt their productivity. That’s where the Level 10 Meeting™ agenda comes in. This weekly meeting keeps everyone on the same page and focused on what matters the most.

 

Aligning our use of technology to sustain our attention and focus will lead to achieving what psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi called flow. The flow state has definite benefits. In flow, you have a heightened sense of focus, immersion, creativity, reduced stress, and more joy and happiness.

 

Plus, when in flow, our productivity can boost by up to 500%. Imagine if you, your Visionary/Integrator (V/I) Duo, and your leadership team could regularly achieve that boost! Now imagine if every team in your company could achieve that level of productivity.

 

Flow isn’t just an individual experience. When teams hit flow together, oxytocin, the bonding hormone, fosters trust and collaboration. The power of flow is driven by the chemistry of success. A team that works together, truly in sync, achieves more than they ever thought possible. 

 

Regularly creating flow (either as an individual, interpersonally, or in a group) requires removing distractions to attain complete attention. That means no messages, multitasking, smartphones, social media, email, buzzes, or bings. Without complete, focused attention, you cannot create flow or realize any of its benefits.

 

Managing Human Energy With Technology

Technology can be the biggest flow blocker. However, the right software can take the collaborative spirit of Level 10 Meetings online, creating a synchronized virtual environment. These environments foster the engagement and trust vital to achieving flow accessibility and team productivity. 

 

By keeping everyone focused on what matters most during one meeting, we don’t gum up a team’s flow state with endless meetings.

 

Regardless of the format of a Level 10 Meeting, no one should be sitting around looking at their screens and “multitasking” while one person types. So, ensure everyone has all their notifications off with ZERO emails, phone calls, messages, or multitasking. Call out anyone breaking this rule. 

 

If you’re afraid you’ll be tempted to sneak peeks, use a freedom app to prevent surfing and maximize focused time with your team.

 

Managing human energy with technology takes fundamental changes to how we interact with our devices. However, once you’ve mastered your technology, you can unleash its full power to boost your productivity and ultimately achieve your goals.