Add focus... remove the distractions & noise

B Box

its a fact of life that we are all increasingly distracted by what's happening around us. Other peoples urgencies, actions, priorities together with the constant noise of pings and chimes as notifications and emails arrive at the wrong moment.

Teams can find their time and energy consumed by often unwelcome political, organisational or cultural noise - often from above them but sometimes from within. That's where the B box comes in. Hang it on the wall for all to see. That's exactly what I did.

It's a useful tool for teams to agree that a subject has taken too much time and energy and distracts from what they want to focus on achieving. Anyone can suggest that something goes in the B box but entry is a consensus. The latter bit is important because it's not a tool to stop free debate or discussion or to avoid thorny subjects.

It doesn't have to be B and you can frame it in your own way - what does B stand for? - for me it was B****cks (sorry, but that's what we called it - because that was an description of what went in the box) - we all agreed to put stuff into the b****cks bin because it was not our issue / we couldn't solve it / it was creating too much noise, or frustration or negativity and it didn't help us focus on what was important at that moment. Eventually, we all knew what it was and what should go in there. Usage of the B box effectively closed the discussion in the knowledge that we had agreed to simply stop the noise and frustration. And it worked!

So what went in the B bin?...... it can be office politics; it can be decisions or culture from above that just don't help; it can be peripheral HR policies handed down ( sorry HR friends but it does happen); it can be some level of perceived political correctness or pettiness that distracts from the job of getting stuff done. It can be anything. You get the picture.

The box doesn't have to be crudely named ( believe me, it does help to use a graphic descriptor but also a non controversial abbreviation) it can more gently termed but the use is the same - a team tool to mentally lock away the subject to allow a team to focus on what they need achieve.

Try it - it might just help.