Is multitasking really that bad?

Happy Thursday,

I spent two days at a conference on the future of work and AI, and one theme kept surfacing: technology is making us switch contexts more, and that is killing focus. One keynote speaker, quoting from the book Stolen Focus, also argued that none of us is truly a multitasker. I found myself nodding along and agreeing. But as the discussion hardened into a neat little sound bite, I started wondering whether we were oversimplifying the issue, or just looking at it through the narrow lens of the standard office worker. So I decided to question it. Because if we want our teams to be more productive, it's worth looking beyond sound bites and clichés before making changes to how we work.

🧠 LEARN something.

The research is pretty clear on one point: when two tasks both require conscious attention, we are not really multitasking. We are switching. And switching comes at a cost. Your brain does not just hop neatly from one task to the next. It carries residue from the thing you just left behind, which slows thinking, dulls judgement, and makes simple mistakes more likely. If you're trying to read a proposal while your inbox, Teams chat, and phone keep pulling your attention away, you're not going to perform at your best or achieve any level of deep focus. I've experienced that myself, and I'm sure you have too. We can agree that this part is true, while also acknowledging that there's more to the story that is equally true.

Here's the part that's also worth paying attention to: not every role is built for sustained deep work, and not every person experiences switching in the same way. I've spent much of my career in and around operational environments. The military, paramedics, emergency response, event management, or hospitality, where context switching isn't a cost; it's part of the job’s value proposition. I'd argue that many leadership roles today depend on rapid reorientation and require us to effectively context-switch. At a personal level, research also shows that individual differences matter beyond a binary "good vs bad" argument. People differ in working memory, distractibility, training, and the strategies they use to switch between contexts. Research on boundary theory also points to ‘segmenters’ and ‘integrators’, suggesting that people naturally differ in how they manage boundaries and move between roles during the day. Some recover from interruptions much faster than others. What technology and AI are doing, however, is making those individual and role differences far more visible as we all try to work out how to use technology to improve productivity and effectiveness, and what the future of work looks like with AI now embedded in most organisations

🤔 REFLECT on an idea.

Every new AI and tech hype seems to make us rethink what productivity, efficiency and communication really look like at work. That was certainly the bulk of the conversation at the conference. But the real question isn't just how AI changes the way we work. It's whether we're trying to make humans work like AI, instead of using AI to help people perform better in ways that align with their roles and individual strengths.

😊 SMILE a little.

My laptop can happily cope with 43 tabs open. And then there is me, walking into the kitchen and completely forgetting why I'm there. 😂

✅ DO IT to get results.

Our job as leaders is to get the best out of our people. We can't do that if we assume productivity and focus look the same for everyone. You can build a system that everyone is expected to fit into, or a system that enables people to do their best work. Those are two very different leadership philosophies. Unfortunately, I've seen too many leaders lean towards the former, often based on their own preferences, biases, and ways of working. So before you introduce your new way of working, ask yourself one question: Are we simply making humans adapt to technology, or are we using technology to help people perform at their best?

🌱 How can we support you and you?

We provide strategic leadership solutions tailored to align with your business strategy, size, and budget. We can support you with:

• Individual Coaching (for leaders and doers)

• Team Coaching (for group and leadership teams)

• Workshops, off-sites, and team building

• In-house Leadership Programs to suit your scale.

Kia pai tō wiki

Kenny Bhosale

CEO & Founder, The Bridge Leaders