The business world - as it relates to strategy and human capital.
Reach down, slide your index fingers in to belt loops on either side of you and...
Tuesday, March 02, 2004
Pull up your jeans!!
So there I am this morning, meeting with a client, talking about lean organizations, and the implications therein. We talk at length about the company's associates working 90 hour work weeks, complaining that they can't keep up this pace for too long... Easy solution - hire more staff. Reality - that's not an option.
Turns our we're talking about another one of my favourite books Less is More by Jason Jennings. Through our discussion the topic of workload is ever present. I remind him of another situation we had with a client. The directors at this particular client were unable to focus on their 'Directorial' responsibilities as they had too much day to day hum drum to deal with. So we told them - get rid of it!! Give it to the people whose responsibility it is to actually do that work. Sure, it got into issues around trust and competence.. blah blah... bottom line, according to Pat Lancaster, chairman, Lantech "Anything that doesn't add value is waste. Good business managers have an obligation to constantly eliminate it." Thanks Pat, couldn't agree more.
So here's my point...
Stop complaining you have too much to do. Phewf... someone had to say it, I'm glad it was me.
Newsflash: We live in a new 'reality' that expects way more from you than in any other time in history.
Sorry.. don't like it.. tough. The point is, nobody expects you to work 70+ hours a week. They just expect the job to get done. If it takes you less than 40 hours fine.. you'll get more, but that's a whole other story...
Newsflash: Technology, and Collaboration will lead you to freedom.
If you seek out alternate ways of doing things (namely on computers, or through your team) you can accomplish everything you need. Lean organizations are only going to get leaner. Your job is to get smarter. As you get smarter about how you go about your responsibilities, your jeans will get looser... keep pulling them back up....Time to get on with getting on...
So there I am this morning, meeting with a client, talking about lean organizations, and the implications therein. We talk at length about the company's associates working 90 hour work weeks, complaining that they can't keep up this pace for too long... Easy solution - hire more staff. Reality - that's not an option.
Turns our we're talking about another one of my favourite books Less is More by Jason Jennings. Through our discussion the topic of workload is ever present. I remind him of another situation we had with a client. The directors at this particular client were unable to focus on their 'Directorial' responsibilities as they had too much day to day hum drum to deal with. So we told them - get rid of it!! Give it to the people whose responsibility it is to actually do that work. Sure, it got into issues around trust and competence.. blah blah... bottom line, according to Pat Lancaster, chairman, Lantech "Anything that doesn't add value is waste. Good business managers have an obligation to constantly eliminate it." Thanks Pat, couldn't agree more.
So here's my point...
Stop complaining you have too much to do. Phewf... someone had to say it, I'm glad it was me.
Newsflash: We live in a new 'reality' that expects way more from you than in any other time in history.
Sorry.. don't like it.. tough. The point is, nobody expects you to work 70+ hours a week. They just expect the job to get done. If it takes you less than 40 hours fine.. you'll get more, but that's a whole other story...
Newsflash: Technology, and Collaboration will lead you to freedom.
If you seek out alternate ways of doing things (namely on computers, or through your team) you can accomplish everything you need. Lean organizations are only going to get leaner. Your job is to get smarter. As you get smarter about how you go about your responsibilities, your jeans will get looser... keep pulling them back up....Time to get on with getting on...
posted by kyle... @ 1:28 PM
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