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  • Cultivating Attention

  • The Paradoxical Secret of Team Success

  • Paying attention as a collaborative team is not hard--it just takes a little practice. Cultivating Attention shows you how.

    You'll learn to develop these habits:

    • Stable Attention so your team can focus on what's important.
    • Connectedness so your team can collaborate effectively.
    • Open-Mindedness so your team can make good decisions.
    • Self-Awareness so your team can find resilience in the face of change.

  • Available now!

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  • From the Introduction

    Addressing the disruptive impact of the survival optimizations—your busy, tribal, biased, reactive brain—requires you to do just one thing: notice the present moment without desire or aversion. When you can keep your attention right here and right now, seeing things just as they are without wanting them to be different than they are, you and your team can overcome distractedness and pay attention to what is important. You can break down tribal barriers, stay connected, and collaborate. You can identify assumptions, avoid jumping to conclusions and make good decisions. You can notice your reactivity and stay resilient in the face of challenges. In the present moment and without judgments, you can meet each other, see what is really so, and do what needs to be done. In short, you can stay aligned.

  • What's Inside

    • A 6-step plan for you and your team to build the four habits
    • Brain science that shows how your busy, tribal, biased and reactive brain gets in the way of better attention
    • 16 micropractices for building the habits on your own, in your workplace, and with your team
    • A business fable that shows what happens when a team pays attention...and what happens when it doesn't
    • How attention improves common technology and business processes like Agile, Scrum, and change management

  • Table of Contents

    INTRODUCTION

    The paradox of effective teams

    What it takes for teams to succeed

    Why team alignment is hard

    The impact of the survival optimizations

    Paying attention: the one thing you need to align your team

    Four flavors of attention

    Getting some help

    Relax: the fundamental paradox

    Find your motivation: business fable and applications

    Understand the obstacles: brain science

    Create a new path: the core practice

    Get specific, and keep it small: micropractices

    From micropractices to macroeffectiveness

    Practices for yourself

    Practices for you in your workplace

    Practices for your team

    CHAPTER 1: Stable Attention

    The paradox of relaxed awareness

    Getting Aligned, episode 1: the cross-functional team meeting

    The challenge to stable attention: the busy brain

    The practice of stable attention: notice what’s happening now

    Getting Aligned, Episode 1 (continued)

    Stable attention micropractices

    Stable attention applied: Lean and Kanban

    CHAPTER 2: Connectedness

    The paradox beyond the tribe

    Getting Aligned, Episode 2: the incident

    The challenge to connectedness: the tribal brain

    The practice of connectedness: pay attention to other people

    An image of connectedness: the ocean

    Getting Aligned, Episode 2 (continued)

    Connectedness micropractices

    Connectedness applied: Agile and Scrum

    CHAPTER 3: Open-Mindedness

    The paradox of thoughts beyond thinking

    Getting Aligned, Episode 3: the big initiative

    The challenge to open-mindedness: the biased brain

    The practice of open-mindedness: pay attention to your judgments

    Two caveats about non-judgmental awareness

    An image of open-mindedness: a clear blue sky

    An ally: curiosity

    Getting Aligned, Episode 3 (continued)

    Open-mindedness micropractices

    Open-mindedness applied: strategic planning and innovation

    CHAPTER 4: Self-Awareness

    The paradox of mind and body

    Getting Aligned, Episode 4: The Post-Mortem Meeting

    The challenge to self-awareness: the reactive brain

    The practice of self-awareness: pay attention to your reactions

    Getting Aligned, Episode 4 (continued)

    Self-Awareness micropractices

    Self-Awareness Applied: Change Management and Mergers & Acquisitions

    Final thoughts: keep cultivating!