• Ben Levin's presentation

Professor Ben Levin (pictured on the right) spoke about managing distractions, noting that the biggest challenge identified by leaders is finding the time to do what is most important. Ben described two kinds of distraction:

• operational distractions such as day-to-day management issues
• political distractions such as competing agendas

He looked at how leaders could identify the tasks that are both vital to success and that only they could do. He also talked about the 80/20 rule, where an increase in effort brings lower and lower returns, and felt that identifying the ‘80/20’ point was vital. He also stated that routines and delegation were essential to managing distractions since "at any given moment there is a high probability of low probability events". In other words, surprise dominates. Too many surprises could mean a problem with routines though and he noted that delegating to others means accepting the way they do things. 

Ben made some suggestions about dealing with operational distractions by:

• keeping priorities in your face
• being accessible but not open door
• reducing meetings
• making priorities

He advocated understanding the reality of competing interests when dealing with political pressures by building strong relationships, learning conflict management skills and creating vehicles for dialogue. Overall he suggested a balance of optimism and realism combined with clear vision.

Kathy Seddon