In these difficult times businesses are reducing new hiring and instead squeezing every ounce of productivity out of their existing employees.
On top of that managers and executives are fearful of the future, and as a result are heading for melt-down.
Slowing Down
Sometimes the best way to work most effectively and efficiently is to slow down, and take time to think your problems through. Working at breakneck speed can be the fast track to failure, while they that work effectively rather than quickly can achieve success through tackling real problems and not perceived ones.
The 80/20 Pareto principle is frequently applied wrongly, and I go to the ultimate rule, the 99/1 rule, where the last 20 minutes of my day are spent in thought and reflection: planning the best solution to a problem, not the quickest or most obvious.
If we spend more time in planning and strategising; just thinking things through and acting with certainty rather than putting out fires that don’t exist.
Consider this example:
I worked on a project for a bank that was having great difficulties with their business, mainly covering Credit Cards, Mortgages and Personal Loans. They were expending their effort equally over all of these, and their service efforts were being equally applied.
However, the credit card business was causing 80% of their problems yet used only 20% of the resources. The solution was simple: sort out the credit cards problem, and leave the others to get along just fine.
Which parts of your life offer you the most satisfaction and happiness? These are the parts where you are most successful and get best results. Take some time to think it through, and you will identify your strengths that you can build on for even more satisfaction in your life.
In the example of the bank, it took three months to define and solve the problem. It produces not only massively increased customer satisfaction, but also a dollar benefit of millions in preventable losses and labour costs.
All because some time was taken to sit back and analyse and define the problem. What would have happened to the bank had it said that it was too busy to spend that time identifying the real problem?
The bottom line here is that the Pareto principle is not just about numbers, but about identifying your own strengths and building on these. It is not about correcting weaknesses – it is much easier to use your strengths, and this involves identifying them and thinking in a directed fashion.
‘Helping Leaders build great organisations”
(C) Daniel Lock.
