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KM 101

Measuring Attention Using The AttentionScape

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Dennis Pearce

November 2025

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Why is it so difficult to find time to improve?

“Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin.

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It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it.”

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Scarce Resources: Food

Agriculture

2,000,000 years ago

12,000 years ago

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Scarce Resources: Stuff

Industry

12,000 years ago

200 years ago

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Scarce Resources: Information

Information

200 years ago

50 years ago

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Scarce Resources: Attention

Attention

50 years ago

Today

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Attention is at Multiple Levels

  • Attention at the �individual level�
  • Attention at the team�/group/intermediate �level (management �attention)�
  • Attention at the enterprise level

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Attention at the Individual Level

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Attention at the Group Level (Management Attention)

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What About Multitasking?

  • Trying to juggle jobs rather than completing them sequentially can take longer overall (as much as 1-1/2 times) and reduce the ability to perform each task�
  • Stress from multitasking may contribute to short-term memory difficulties�
  • What seems to be simultaneous awareness and information processing actually takes place in three-second increments�
  • High multitaskers are more easily distracted than low multitaskers�
  • The better people think they are at multitasking, the worse they actually are

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Too Much Focus Can Also Be Detrimental

To increase the chances of innovation:�

  • Increase access to information�
  • Increase visibility to information (“peripheral vision”)

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  • Increase social network connections�

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Accenture’s AttentionScape

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Types of Attention

Too Much:

Captive Attention

Voluntary Attention

Back-of-Mind Attention

Front-of-Mind Attention

Attractive Attention

Aversive Attention

Description

You feel like a POW. You pay attention, but you resent it. Your devious, subconscious mind is always looking for ways to "escape" by distracting you.

All your attention to a particular item is voluntary, with no captive elements; your ability to stay focused on the item becomes very vulnerable. If "captive attention" items intrude, the voluntary topic vanishes.

Your work may be routine to the point of boredom, and you'll probably have a hard time dealing with new data or unexpected circumstances.

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You're anxious, stressed out, and overwhelmed. You dwell on minor details, lose the forest for the trees, and seem absent-minded.

You may not fully understand the negative consequences of inaction and, with no negative consequences for misbehavior, your motivation may lag.

Your life is dominated by negative incentives. With a world of sticks and not a carrot in sight, you'll quickly lose interest and motivation.

Example

Dinner conversation with your in-laws

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Your precious "give back to the community" initiative gets replaced with "more pressing issues" after Consumer Reports trashes your company's product.

Your procurement manager who had developed and perfected the system for "paper-based" buying did not see the internet coming and doesn't know how to adapt to it now.

When asked why she travels so much, a road warrior executive who has to remember passports, hotel room numbers, and contact names from around the world can't answer why it is necessary for her to be traveling at all.

After the sinking of the Titanic, lifeboat supplies on cruise ships finally started getting as much attention as did the dinner china.

Another day, another deadline.

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Example:

Thinking back over your last week, estimate the percentage of time you spent thinking about each of the following as it relates to the projects, products, processes, or activities you worked on. Percentages should total to 100.

<list focus areas>

  • Cost
  • Schedule
  • Quality
  • Non-Value Add

Thinking over you last work week, describe your focus on <focus area> as it relates to the product, process, project or activity you were working on. <scale of 1-7>

  • I really concentrated on this.�<front of mind>
  • I was excited by this; it made me happy to be thinking about it.�<attraction>
  • I couldn't avoid this; it was necessary or imperative.�<captive>
  • There might have been negative consequences had I not paid attention to this.�<aversion>
  • I was thinking about this quite a bit subconsciously while working on other things.�<back of mind>
  • I chose to focus on this; it was what I preferred to work on.�<voluntary>

Product Development

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Focus Areas:

  • Cost
  • Schedule
  • Quality
  • Non-Value Add

Two Basic Questions:

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Typical Data

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Attention Assessment

Attention Assessment measures across 3 axes:

    • front of mind vs. back of mind
    • captive vs. voluntary attention
    • attractive vs. aversive attention�

The ideal is for the desired object of attention to be centered.�

Based on the direction and distance from the center, there is a list of actions that can be taken to move employee attention in the direction desired.

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Team Average

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Corrective Actions

Too Much:

Captive Attention

Voluntary Attention

Back-of-Mind Attention

Front-of-Mind Attention

Attractive Attention

Aversive Attention

Corrective Actions

  • Use motivational techniques around this issue�
  • Remove constraints�
  • Replace people who detest a certain job with people who find the task inherently interesting

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  • Find concrete reasons why an employee must pay attention to this issue�
  • Enlist the support of others who will require that the employee stick to his or her guns -- AA and Weight Watchers groups are examples
  • Make the habitual parts of this task more conscious by mixing up the routine and pausing to think about what you are really doing�
  • Teach your task to someone who knows nothing about it
  • Create repetitive systems and procedures�
  • Think about this issue or participate in this activity often enough that it becomes routine

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  • Add some sticks to the carrots -- make this a do-or-die item�
  • Scare yourself with the thought of negative consequences

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  • Add some carrots to the sticks -- Reward yourself for paying attention to this topic.

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References