Whenever organisations try to improve something, you can hear them needing more “focus”. More focus on the customer, more focus on cost, more focus on sustainability, etc. It is a bit like an engineering approach: if something in the system doesn’t work that well, you give it additional attention, repair/amend it, re-integrate it, and the system is better.
Psychologically, focus directs attention to what’s in view, just like our eyes. What we focus on becomes sharper. What we ignore fades into the background. Using focus in this way allows organisations (and people) to concentrate on one (or just a few) issues and dedicate some extra energy specifically to those issues.
On a personal level, we’ve all experienced the benefits. Cutting out distractions boosts productivity. We should all reduce our email, phone, alerts, etc, and ensure we dedicate our energy towards delivery. Psychological research has indicated this time and time again. Concentration and dedication enhance personal productivity. The same holds true for teams.
Focus in Team Environments
In business agility, we have seen that team-level focus drives. For example, in multi-functional dedicated teams, using a team-based delivery process (like SCRUM), focused for a limited period of time (like a sprint or a timebox) on providing value (defined by a product owner or a business ambassador). This limited amount of time creates relative structure that encourages focus, improves flow, and boosts measurable productivity.
The team can then reduce Work in Progress (WIP), use daily stand-ups, and measure velocity to help maintain this flow and productivity. These ensure that needed information is accessible and that teams aren’t constantly switching context. There are many more techniques that are successfully used to keep the flow going, learn to improve, increase productivity, hence value delivery.
Where Focus Thrives
Focus can be a powerful stabiliser in complicated environments. When it's directed towards a few well-defined, measurable goals like KPIs or Key Results, it creates clarity and structure. But here’s the key: less is more. Too many targets weaken impact and blur priorities.
Sustained focus over time supports growth. It creates a stable environment where teams can rely on familiar rhythms and direction. That stability frees people from constant decision-making about the “how” and “why,” allowing them to channel energy into delivering value.
This approach shines in stable or simply complicated settings. When you can predict outcomes, design solutions, and make informed changes, focus drives results. You can refine one part of the system, reintegrate it, and keep improving. Continuous, iterative progress becomes part of business-as-usual, no major projects required.
When Focus Backfires
Unfortunately, focus isn’t always beneficial. In a less stable, VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, uncertain) environment, the above doesn’t work. Unfortunately, it actually increases instability. Let me explain that.
A psychological pitfall of focus, and how we measure success is that over time, we shift from measuring what we achieve to achieving only what we measure. So, if you want more customers, you run the risk of not reaping any (financial or other) benefits. If you’re focusing on earning more money per service, you might end up with a higher return per service, but a lower amount of services delivered because of bad price/quality.
These examples are deliberately simple, but they highlight a deeper risk. When focus is narrowed to a few “stable” KPIs or Key Results, there’s a danger of missing the bigger picture. The fix might seem straightforward: add or revise Key Results or KPIs, but that undermines the very stability the focus was meant to provide.
The Risk of Over-Focusing
Over the last few decades, organisations have been narrowing their attention on “core business”. This approach may have worked well in more predictable times. But for some, it came at a cost. They have become less agile and flexible, less resilient and adaptable towards market, technology and other changes, and also less capable of innovating. So, the short-term pursuit of efficiency has undermined their long-term sustainability. Diversity of thought, skills, and strategy is essential for resilience.
Focus might start with the correct intent, but in a changing environment, it will often require adaptation. Signals may be ignored or misinterpreted due to confirmation bias. People naturally resist changing focus, preferring the comfort of consistency. A strong focus might lead to a focus on the wrong things. It might lead to hitting the measurable targets but not reaching the objective. This is a deeply human, natural, cultural pattern, one that doesn’t make it right. Over time, the gap grows between achieving measurable, controlled success and creating real, meaningful impact.
Focus in Complex Environments
In a VUCA world, especially because of the complexity, the impact of change is often unpredictable. Which is one of the reasons why agile businesses induce relatively small changes to the system and are very open to feedback to test assumptions and learn.
In a complicated environment, if you tweak one part of the system, you usually know where to look for the effects. In a complex environment, you don’t. For example, you add an airbag to a car to reduce the number of injuries. However, the number of accidents could go up because people feel safer in their cars and no longer wear their seat belts. If you’re focused only on the safety increase the airbag brings, and not on the broader system, you risk missing the full picture. You may have delivered the result, but have not achieved the impact.
And in general, many things that involve people’s behaviour have a degree of complexity. So, focus (on results) in complex environments hinders the view on the expected impact, therefore actually increasing complexity rather than reducing it.
Focus narrows the range of impulses and feedback we take in. It can pull us deeper into tunnel vision, reducing both flexibility and agility. So, in a VUCA environment where agility and resilience are crucial, the wrong focus might stand in your way. Being able to pivot and adapt, based on solid, broad information, is crucial.
Does that mean there should be no focus in a VUCA world? Not quite.
It’s all about what we focus on
Most of the time, but not all of the time, focus is defined in terms of output, key results, and KPIs. There’s a good reason for this: they’re easy to measure, easy to track, and feel controllable. Managers like that. People like that. So people will try to stick to this, even if it’s sometimes very counterproductive.
But focus really works when it’s defined by value—value for people, for customers, for the wider ecosystem. When it’s driven by purpose and grounded in values. In this case, the assumptions behind the focus are tested regularly, feedback is actively gathered, and insights are shared across the organisation.
This would allow everyone in the organisation to be engaged with providing value, and adapting any practices that don’t lead to value. It elevates real success over what’s simply measurable.
The challenge? It’s harder to measure, not always immediate, less controllable, and can feel unstable. It requires a shift from simply delivering what’s asked to constantly discovering what success really means.
Rethinking Objectives
We’ve seen how effective OKRs can be in guiding organisations towards broader objectives, rather than focusing solely on key results. But for this to work, the objectives need to reflect value for People, Customers, and the Ecosystem.
Many organisations have implemented OKRs. Are they then having the right focus? Again, it depends on how the Objectives are defined. If they’re very operational, like “implement a new feature for handling complaints,” then the answer is probably no. If they were more “why” oriented (“enhance the customer’s capability to quickly respond to complaints to maintain a high level of customer satisfaction”) would be much more meaningful.
As always, just using a technique doesn’t solve an issue. It is understanding why and how to use the technique, which, in some cases, brings about improvements.
Conclusion
The impact of a VUCA environment varies depending on the size and structure of an organisation. In more stable areas, a traditional, result-driven approach to focus can be effective. But in parts of the organisation that need to pivot and adapt quickly, that same approach may fall short. Conversely, using a more objective or purpose-driven focus in highly stable areas might not deliver the consistency and efficiency that a result-driven focus provides.
So, arguably you would need hybrid steering. Apply what you need, where you need it. As simple as that. Yet many managers prefer a single, uniform approach across the organisation. And while that would make their lives easier, it wouldn’t help the organisation to deliver more value. One-size-fits-all thinking negates the intelligence necessary to allow the organisation to perform at its best.
When you’re driving a car, you are constantly switching focus depending on the journey. To the crossing, traffic lights, pedestrians and cyclists, your dashboard, your mirrors, etc. But your ultimate focus is on your destination and your reason for travelling. Because you’re trained and experienced, these rapid shifts in focus come naturally.
This kind of dynamic focus is essential. It allows you to adapt safely to changing conditions while staying aligned with your purpose. That’s how you reach your destination.
