"Work smarter not harder" is a common exhortation
by CEOs. Another common directive is "to do more with less". But how?
Simplistic slogans masquerade as management insights with worrying frequency.
In business it's not the "what" but the "how" that often
matters more.
2 comments:
Multitasking is a myth - it makes people more inefficient
Sanjeev Nanavati
27 October 2017
"Work smarter not harder" is a common exhortation by CEOs. Another common directive is "to do more with less". But how? Simplistic slogans masquerade as management insights with worrying frequency. In business it's not the "what" but the "how" that often matters more.
Just take a look at your calendar. Is your day programmed with meetings and events without a moment to spare? Are you consistently "grabbing" lunch and "eating on the run"? Are you always busy? Is the challenge to fit everything you need to do in the available time? Or is it to use the limited time to do what matters and to do it well?
The problem you are trying to solve lies at the heart of determining the right solution. It's not about squeezing out more and more activities during the day but what you put into your day that is more important.
Mental exhaustion is not conducive to breakthrough ideas or insights. A state of constant busyness is like acceleration without direction. As a well-known neuro-scientist said: "You waste years by not being able to waste hours."
Creativity and innovation need to be nourished by thinking time. These cannot be measured directly but can lead to immeasurable impact. Top management needs to reflect whether creating mental traffic jams for employees by squeezing even more tasks into limited time creates the conditions for breakthrough ideas, customer centricity and all the important things that are expected from employees. Bumper-to-bumper traffic hardly provides the conditions to experience the exhilaration of driving a Ferrari.
Embedded in the doing more with less and working smarter not harder mantras is the holy grail of multitasking. Multitasking is a myth. Research has shown that multitasking actually makes us more inefficient.
The brain does not do things simultaneously. What actually happens is that activities are conducted sequentially for very brief periods of time which makes it appear that they are being done simultaneously. Instead of saving time you end up wasting time. The limited attention span of many CEOs should be a source of grave concern just as a missed diagnosis of cancer can have fatal consequences.
Productivity is not linear. With longer hours fatigue sets in. Mistakes are more likely and the quality of decision-making declines. It's fine once in a while but creativity and mastery of complex problems come from a rested, not an exhausted, mind.
Being busy and sleep-deprived often makes a lot of people feel important and but the quality of work suffers. The irony is that you sometimes work best when you're not working.
Instead of lamenting about poor employee engagement and exhorting employees to work smarter, companies can take concrete actions to create an environment enabling greater focus leading to sustained improvements in productivity.
A McKinsey Global Institute Study found that employees spend 28 per cent of their workweek checking e-mail. Bain, another consulting firm, found that in a sample of large firms managers spent about 15 per cent of their time in meetings, with senior managers spending about two days a week in meetings. Senior management is guilty of imposing a time tax on employees.
CUT DISTRACTIONS
Here are a few simple actions regarding e-mail and meetings that would speak louder than words:
Ban internal e-mail between 10 pm and 7 am, for example. This is already being done by some companies so that both managers and staff can disconnect and not feel guilty.
Auto-delete all incoming internal e-mail while on vacation. A few companies have started this practice. Except for perhaps client e-mail, imagine coming back from holiday to a relatively clean inbox. Colleagues have to either sort the problem out while you're away or wait till you come back. You are totally free to disconnect and to recharge.
Disable "reply all" or disable it one or two days a week. Just cutting down the volume of e-mail traffic will make a huge difference. The indiscriminate copying of everyone often to protect oneself is hugely distracting and unproductive.
Ban all internal meetings on a particular day of the week.
Institute a rule that no meeting can last for more than one hour. Frankly, most meetings (and especially longer meetings) are unproductive. Brevity forces focus.
Many employees are helpless in the face of the onslaught of distractions in the workplace. Reducing these interruptions, creating space for focus and improving the ability to recharge through sensible institutional policies will do more to improve productivity and engagement than pithy slogans.
Various wellness programmes and other actions have limited value when energy-depleting activities are allowed to continue. It is hard to fill a glass with water that has a leak at the bottom. CEOs need to lead with concrete actions to reduce these time leakages and help employees work smarter. Will they have the courage to do so?
The writer is managing principal of Falcon Associates and a senior adviser to multiple firms. He can be reached at sanjeevnanavati@yahoo.com.
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