On my flight back to Phoenix on Saturday, I spent a great deal of time reading Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip & Dan Heath. It’s a great book that I highly recommend you read. I’m already rethinking my approach to a variety of situations based on the concepts presented. Seriously—read this book.
In one of the later chapters, the authors describe the Sterile Cockpit. Apparently, since most aircraft accidents take place during take place during takeoff and landing, airlines have long employed a practice of a sterile cockpit. If a plane is below 10,000 feet, the conversation in the cockpit must remain 100% flight related. Once a plane is above 10,000 feet the conversation can include a variety of topics: family, films, vacation plans, etc. However, once the plane drops below 10,000 feet, the focus is only on the flight itself. The policy has dramatically reduced accidents since its implementation. Some companies have adopted a similar procedure, eliminating meetings and interruptions before a specific hour on several days of the week, reducing distractions, allowing employees opportunities to be more productive.
Could we do the same thing in our groups? Could we eliminate text messages or facebook messages a few days of the week to allow our team members to place their focus on the task at hand? Could we allocate specific times in our meetings for work, reducing the surrounding distracts? Social time is incredibly important, but if it comes at the expense of progress, is it worth it?
My good friend (and incredibly successful speaker and author) Brendon Burchard doesn’t check any email until after 10am. He spends his morning focused and creative. He still communicates with everyone he needs to and accomplishes all that is necessary, but he ALSO innovates and creates more than most people I know simply because he keeps his focus in the morning. He removes the distractions.
This week let’s find the ways to do this for ourselves.