I’ve been a huge Formula 1 fan for years. From the battles between Mansell, Prost, Senna and Schumacher in the nineties to the strategic warfare of today, I follow all of it closely. This post isn’t about nostalgia, though. It’s about a recent go-karting session with my son, where all my F1 knowledge was thrown back in my face.
Racing my 16-year-old, I tried lap after lap to take the corners flat out. In my head I knew I had to hit the apex, the innermost point of the corner. But as I went into the bend at full throttle, something pulled me towards the outside, towards the barrier that was there to catch me. And sure enough: I slammed into it sideways. Painful. And slow.
For all my F1 passion and all the theory about the perfect racing line, I was stuck in target fixation. I had focused on the wall I wanted to avoid instead of the apex that makes the corner faster. And that put me face to face with a problem every director and manager will recognise: you don’t win by looking at what you want to avoid.
Every corner is a choice: future-focused or problem-focused
Racing is all about the perfect line and the fastest lap time, so you stay ahead of the competition. To get there, a driver has to do one thing perfectly in every corner: hit the apex.
The apex is the innermost point of the corner. Hit it exactly and you come out of the corner at the highest possible speed. Exactly what you want. What a driver doesn’t look at is the outside of the corner. That’s where the gravel trap, the tyre wall and the concrete barrier are. The places you want to avoid at all costs.
Which brings us to a universal truth from Formula 1:
An F1 driver focuses on the apex (the outcome you want), never on the wall (the problem to avoid).
Target fixation: why it slows you down
When a driver looks at the wall to avoid hitting it, as I did in the kart, target fixation kicks in. You unconsciously steer towards whatever you’re looking at. Focus on the obstacle you want to avoid, and suddenly you’re more likely to steer straight into it. I see exactly the same thing in organisations. Faced with a challenge, we quickly turn to the problem:
- What’s going wrong?
- Why aren’t we hitting our targets?
- What do we need to fix?
A problem-focused view is target fixation for organisations.
When something is going on in a team or organisation, the questions you ask are the racing line you follow. Focus on what you don’t want, and that’s usually where your time goes, along with the budget and energy that come with it. Focus on where you want to go, and you naturally invest time and energy in growth and innovation, and with it in your lead over the competition.
So you can focus on the wall you don’t want to hit, or on the point where you want to exit the corner. Where your eyes are pointed often shows in the questions people ask as soon as the team or organisation gets stuck.
| The wall (problem-focused questions) | The apex (future-focused questions) |
|---|---|
| What’s going wrong? | What’s already going well, and how can we do more of it? |
| Why aren’t we hitting our targets? | When were we at our most successful, and what made that possible? |
| Who’s responsible for this problem? | What’s the ideal, ambitious future for our team or product over the next 12 months? |
Hitting the apex starts with a different question
If you’re stuck in the challenges of your team or organisation, it’s time to shift your gaze to the potential: the apex. That’s what acting with the future in mind is about, looking at what a team, department or organisation has in it with an appreciative eye. Shifting the focus from today’s problems to the future you want isn’t that complicated. Try asking the future-focused questions from the right-hand column about a problem you’re running into as a team or manager. Asking differently moves the focus from avoiding losses to creating success. You start building on what’s already strong, and that makes a big difference.
Just hit the apex: your next step
Take your eyes off the wall and focus on your team’s full potential. Only by focusing on what’s strong and on the future you want will you carry your speed through the corner and stay ahead of the competition. If you want to try this in your own organisation, start by asking future-focused questions, then watch what happens to your team’s energy and focus.
At Leap Company we believe every organisation already holds its own blueprint for success. We help teams find their own apex and steer into the future at full speed, so they don’t get bogged down in endless problem analysis. One way we do that is through team development and team coaching in the day-to-day work.
Want to stop fixing problems and build a picture of the future together? Book a strategy session on how your organisation takes the next corner.