The State of Work Looking ahead 35 “When people are allowed Empower all Knowledge workers seek a fragment attention. leaders to share “two-way street” that facil- Nearly half of knowledge 5the strategic itates an inclusive, organic workers today report that to bring their emotional vision, but start dialogue between and among switching between apps at the top executives, managers and prevents them from getting office personnel. Team meet- essential work done. So select truth to work, that is when Knowledge workers want to ings offer this to a degree, apps carefully and source hear from the source. When and, accordingly, knowledge solutions that consolidate, innovation, creativity, plans are passed down, infor- workers rank them as the most rather than divide, attention. mation gets lost along the effective forum for commu- way. Workers are most likely nicating strategic goals. But Distraction isn’t engagement and culture to understand the company for deepening understanding just a productivity strategy when they hear it and encouraging discussion 8killer from leaders, whether CEOs around strategic goals, collab- thrive in the organization.” or other executives. Three- oration tools emerge as the Distraction also means you quarters of knowledge most effective medium. leave behind your best pos- workers who receive strat- sible problem-solving brain. Susan David, egy communications from the Aggregate tools “If you’re not giving your- Harvard Medical CEO feel they understand the and information self the time to focus, you School psychologist company strategy. This drops 7 are less good at engaging and author of slightly, to 74%, for the exec- The software prolif- in creative problem-solv- Emotional Agility utive team and to 68% when eration trend is here to stay. ing,” says Columbia Business direct managers are the ones Globally, knowledge workers School professor Sheena sharing strategic objectives. are using more apps than ever Iyengar. And perhaps even before. And while apps can (and more seriously, it’s long been Opt for meetings do) help people become more proven that distraction leads and collaborative productive and collaborative, all to errors, which, depending 6channels when of this “context switching” can on your industry, could have sharing strategy have the opposite effect and steep costs. © SLACK TECHNOLOGIES, INC. 2019