The problem with the constant drive for productivity and efficiency is that it leaves little or no time for future improvements. Effective people do today what makes them better tomorrow. Effective organisations do the same.
The strive for short term results particularly if you are reporting to a short-sighted organisation like the Stock Exchange or some investor, is that today is always seen as more important than tomorrow. Immediate results mean that things that may well make us or the organisation remarkable in the medium to long term are abandoned as they may well make the immediate look bad.
Effective people and organisations always set aside some time every day or at least every week to work on things that will make them better tomorrow. Training is an obvious one here. In the short term it will reduce productivity and efficiency but done well will be very effective. You can always spot a poor organisation with poor management if it does not invest in the employees or cuts training as soon as things get a bit rocky.
How many times have I heard ” there is no point training an apprentice or investing in training as people only leave for more money once they are trained.” The question should be ” why, when we have invested in this employee are they so dissatisfied with us that they leave?” It’s rarely only money. A topic we will address in future blogs.
Individuals should adopt the same attitude. Every day set aside an amount of time (even if it’s only 15 minutes per day which equates to over 90 hours per year) to do some sort of improvement. Read a book, learn a language, do some exercise, whatever you fancy but improve.
Remember effective people do today what makes them better tomorrow. Ineffective people just try to do more today of what they did yesterday, and organisations are the same. More and more of the same, rather than less of the same and more of what moves them forward.
Forget about this short-term obsession of cramming more and more every day and start being more effective.
Of course, to do that you will need an objective and that’s what is missing in the lives of so many people and organisations. Get a remarkable objective first. Then you can be truly effective.
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