The Dawn of the Chief Focus Officer

With the pandemic swiftly introducing new innovations to everyday business, an employee’s attention has never been more sought after. Hybrid working in particular has brought with it new challenges in how people work. Whilst employees are unanimous in loving the additional flexibility of hybrid working, they would also likely admit to having to combat new distractions that sap productivity –from blocking out the sound of kids when working from home, to getting work done in loud open-plan offices. So, what does this mean for IT teams?

IT teams are no strangers to having to change and adapt their day-to-day role as working patterns and technology have developed. From becoming security gurus, to masters of handling remote IT requests, there are no limits to the new skills that IT teams are challenged with learning. In the wake of hybrid working, however, IT Teams are now required to don a brand-new hat in a bid to help people stay on track. Enter the ‘Chief Focus Officer’, who is charged with ensuring employees’ remote and office working set-ups minimise distractions.

Here we explore how IT Officers can embrace this new role and what they need to do to facilitate optimum focus from employees:

Streamline, simplify and curate tech

The Chief Focus Officer’s first objective is to streamline the makeshift array of tools and tech businesses forcibly adopted amid the pandemic to quickly deal with new ways of working. They should start by simplifying the complicated mesh of tools and protocols, eliminating ones that are no longer fit for purpose. This will also ensure that employees aren’t overwhelmed by unfamiliar equipment and systems. They should remove complications by standardising solutions that meet compliance requirements and perform reliably, with the aim to reduce compliance issues and the number of support requests IT receive.

With their Chief Curation Officer hat on, they will also need to prioritise solutions that strike a balance between giving users enough choice to pick the right option for their specific needs and function, but not so many options that they go into analysis paralysis. In doing this, they’ll consider how employees in different roles will have different preferences and requirements, rather than adopting a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach.

Mitigate digital and physical distractions

Working-from-anywhere comes with many distractions, whether your attention is drawn to notifications from Instagram on your smartphone, or being overwhelmed by background noise when working in a café or shared office space. Trying to overcome such distractions can prove a real strain, as shown by recent research that reveals that hybrid working is proving exhausting for employees. The Chief Focus Officer is therefore tasked with providing products that not only drive productivity but also help to make ‘anywhere working’ less stressful.

Ensuring teams have the optimum IT equipment for their role - even if it’s as simple as offering employees the right headsets, microphones or webcams – can significantly improve productivity. Whether that’s giving employees who regularly work in noisy environments USB headsets with advanced noise-cancellation mic technology, or offering teams who are constantly on the go a work-from-anywhere HD webcam that performs well on a laptop. Sometimes the simple solutions are the

most effective and getting the basics right can really go a long way to helping employees who may be teetering on the edge of ‘burn-out.’

Monitor effectiveness

With new IT investment comes great monitoring potential. And monitoring doesn’t have to sound as illicit as it seems. From speaking with colleagues and teams for feedback, to spotting trends by tracking what teams have ordered specific software and equipment, can and should feed into strategic decisions about what is purchased moving forward. By evaluating how their teams work and what tools empower them to be their most productive selves, IT leaders can protect gains made in lockdown (such as time and operational savings and a better work-life balance) and support the future of flexible working.

Final thoughts

As businesses continue to see innovations when it comes to technology, employees and IT teams will have to continue to monitor the best ways of working to ensure innovations aren’t stifling productivity. This leaves the newly appointed Chief Focus Officer with three priorities; to concentrate on and respond to the changing needs and processes within teams, to get under the skin of what is distracting and taking up too much of employees’ time, and to bring in creative ways to ensure focus is on what matters.