Peter Drucker said, “Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.”
An effective employee produces at a high level, while an efficient employee produces quickly and intelligently. By combining effectiveness and efficiency, we can produce better products faster and with fewer resources. We can find our “eff”ing mojo. How do we become more effective and efficient in our work day? This is not a scientific study by any means, but it is a compilation of tips I have been given over the years by great bosses, efficient peers, educational articles and stories, effective team mates, OCD friends, and my parents (and probably something from my college buddies, but that is probably not suitable for this article).
Manage our "to do" list. Less is more. What are the 3-5 things we need to get accomplished today, this week, this month. Where do we keep this list? How do we prioritize? How often do I edit? Some additional tips: these are not usually the easiest or the tasks we WANT to do, these are not usually short tasks, these are not always easy conversations. They may also include something to DO for our significant other (that is important too). Lastly, focus on what needs to be accomplished TODAY. Stay focused.
Manage your attitude. Take initiative. Successful people have a “can do” attitude. We help others, we pick up the slack for the team, we set high standards. This behavior means we are taking responsibility for ourselves. A trait that will make us stand out among our peers. And most likely will open a few unexpected doors for us in our future. Stay positive. (Or as Ron Burgundy says, “stay classy”).
Manage our idea of success. Is our success measured by hours spent at work, or measured by THE work? Just this simple change will alter our mindset, and probably free up more time to do other things. “Digestible chunks” is a term I like to use. Do you break down large projects into “digestible chunks”? Do you measure success by completing these mini milestones? Do you appreciate these smaller wins as you make daily progress toward a larger goal? Do you list out all you accomplish each day? Do you review this list and compare it to what really matters? Do you leave work when your work for the day is successful or when the clock strikes 7pm? Stay balanced.
Manage our efficiency skills. Add a second to save a minute. For example, email. Email was created to save time and money. You can quickly type up an email, send it, and receive a response back in minutes. However, if you are receiving hundreds of emails daily, you know all too well that reading and replying to emails is actually very time consuming. Some tricks I have put in place: taking the time to add ACTION REQUESTED, FYI ONLY, APPROVAL NEEDED, etc. to subject lines in the email; where applicable using bullets versus paragraphs; ensuring the “ask” is clear and early in any written communication; handling emails once (read, handle, file, decide, move to read later); learn to use “rules and colors” (yes, this color blind guy uses colors – not that the colors are important but the differentiation is) to separate emails from the ”boss”, the “spouse” or your CFO; create a schedule to check email to allow you to focus on other tasks – schedule time on your calendar for “me time” to check email a few times a day; UNSUBSCRIBE and BLOCK; set up folders to save important emails to; and finally learn how to send a “bridge” email – an email that says “I got this” and will get back with an answer in XX hours or days. Remember a typical business user sends and receives over 900 emails per week (Ferris Research). 247 billion messages are sent per day. This means more than 2.8 million emails are sent every second. Around 80% of these messages are spam or viruses (The Radicati Group, Inc.). Stay disciplined.
Manage our habits. Create routines. As I wrote about a few weeks back, managing habits and systems is vital to your success. What is our daily routine and where are there time wasters that are specific to you and your work style? How do we place a time limit on these time wasters? Do we tie it to a song, tie it to a certain time (eg: I will be looking at the news today until I finish my Mt Dew or until 8am or until “Paradise by the dashboard lights” is over {old rock geek joke there}). Also, what are our habits to NOT work? I have “date night”, basketball nights, and dinner nights. These all force me to leave the office by a certain time. Also, do we leave our projects when something is going well – when we feel good and we will want to get right back at it the next day?
Manage our management skills. Be focused. Learn how to delegate by building trust and communicating effectively. “Check yourself” to ensure YOU are being productive. We can always IMPROVE our productivity. Most people cannot multi-task so focus on one task then another. If you truly are blessed to multi-task, then get after it! Take care of simple, minor, and unimportant tasks early – as long as they are not consuming valuable time. Utilize agendas and breaks. Do not forget Parkinson’s Law - “If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute to do,” notes Cyril Northcote Parkinson. We’ve all experienced this law in action, struggling for a month to finish a project, then magically getting it done in the final week. Or the house is a mess for weeks, then spotless within a few hours of the in-laws showing up. This law provides great leverage for efficiency: imposing shorter deadlines for a task, or scheduling an earlier meeting. Also, there is the “Two-Minute Rule” from David Allen’s Getting Things Done, he explains that the “most productive people capitalize on the little windows of time opening up during the day. Having an inventory of two-minute tasks on hand whenever windows appear will increase productivity; cleaning out the inbox, checking voicemail, approving a request, builds our efficiency muscles and gets the ball rolling for bigger tasks.” A major cause of procrastination lies in overthinking the next step, Allen says it takes less time to do the action than the time spent thinking about it. Find the sweet spot for productive hustle — rushed work can also be a recipe for reckless work. Finally, find your performance cycles, are you a – morning master, afternoon productive, or late night optimizer? Find your performance balance – the amount of challenge versus the amount of skill which directly ties to your amount of anxiety or boredom if not balanced.
Manage strategically how we disconnect, sleep and eat. All vital to being more productive. I am not a nutritionist or a sleep scientist, so I will leave the food and diet recommendations to them (although I could use some help with my Mt Dew addiction). How to disconnect though… The presence of social media is an easy distraction and major time vacuum. Even small breaks to check our iPhone can add up in a day’s worth of time. Don’t fall down that slippery slope. Get off your devices. Shut it off, get off grid, and stay focused. Do we only check our devices a few times per day? Minimize our interruptions and ruthlessly edit which meetings you choose to attend. The application “DeskTime” played big brother, monitoring employees’ computer use — they found the most productive 10 percent worked hard for 52 minutes, then took a break for 17. Indeed our brain’s natural rhythms of attention means we can focus for up to 90 minutes, then need roughly 20 minutes rest. Strategic breaks equals efficient work.
These tips have helped me along the way, maybe some will resonate with you. Remember, as a leader you must consistently drive effectiveness and efficiency – and it is a combination of the little things that add up. As Chris Fussell wrote, “Meetings must be deliberate and intentional - your organizational rhythm should value purpose over habit and effectiveness over efficiency.”
Together. We. Win.
Dave Harmon
People Division
“Kindness is Currency”
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/davidharmonhr
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