Illustration by David Suter. Posted with permission from strategy+business |
I hear people complain about overwork constantly. They talk about how work never seems to end, how they are always behind, and how much of it seems to be unnecessary.
Why does this happen?
Pick a reason: Too much work, inefficient use of time, self-protective behavior which waste’s people time, organizational politics (etc.).
What can you as a leader do about it?
There are strategies you as a leader can take action on that will help both you and your people.
For example, have you thought about counting people’s time as carefully as you do money? When setting up a meeting, do people calculate how much that meeting is costing in people time? It might change the length – and productivity – of meetings if the cost of that meeting is calculated. There are a variety of online calculators you can use such as this one: http://meetingking.com/meeting-cost-calculator/. I heard recently about a meeting that was going to cost the organization more than $1000 – and that was just for the time people were sitting in the room. Do you think meetings would take as long if the money to pay for them was a line item on someone’s budget?
To find out more, visit: Stop Wasting Your Employees’ Time or watch the video Keep the Smartphone, Ditch the Bad Management Practices at strategy+business.
