January 9, 2007
Are You Lazy?
Most people take the path of least resistance. It is human nature. People want the maximum amount of return from the least amount of effort. Most of us want Warren Buffet money with a Jimmy Buffet lifestyle.
Is it wrong to be this way?
That is a trick question.
Physical work does not guarantee financial prosperity (these days it does not even guarantee financial comfort). The work ethic that John Calvin espoused has no foundation in reality. Working long hours does not make you a good person. Working long hours does not guarantee success. Yet most of us feel a sense of guilt when we are out of the office. All of us have been taught that hard work will lead to success. While this axiom is true today, the concept of hard work has changed.
Physical labor has been replaced by mental labor. Hard work is still necessary for success but hard work can no longer be judged by the hours you put in at the office – or with the client. Working hard today involves spending time thinking through the potential outcomes of situations. It involves looking at situations from multiple perspectives. It also involves listening to people who have had experiences that may be similar to what you are going through. Proactively seeking this information involves work. It is not heavy physical lifting but it does involve effort.
The byproduct of this new model of hard work is the “virtual work environment”. As a business coach and advisor I can think about my clients’ business challenges on my couch at home or I can do it in my office. I can interact with my clients on the phone, via e-mail, in a video conference or in person. My accountant can receive my tax information via express mail and consult with me on the phone. He can then express the documents back to me for my signature. I can even plan a wedding, buy a suit or commission a work of art without leaving the comfort of my kitchen. Physical presence is no longer required to conduct business in a large number of industries.
Yet we continue to use physical presence, in many cases hours worked, as a measure of success.
How long did you work on that project? Did you go into the office on Saturday? How much time did you put in with that company? These are the wrong questions business owners and leaders regularly ask their associates.
The right questions are based around the outcome of the interaction.
What was the return on investment from your work with that client? Did the you save the client money this past year? How much value did you provide the firm? What did you sell to the client and how much did we make from it? These are some of the correct questions. If the answers to these questions are positive, why does time matter? Why should time be used to measure effort?
Technology has forced us to take a more intellectual approach to the way we conduct business but it has not helped alleviate the guilt we feel when we don’t spend physical time in the office or with the client. The perception of laziness still exists when people don’t see us hanging around. If you own or lead a business, this can be damaging. You need to teach your employees that work gets done (maybe even more efficiently) when you (and they) are not around the office. This must become part of the culture of your work environment. How can you make this happen? Here are four areas to look at:
Rewards and Recognition
Reward people based upon results and not based upon perception of effort. Salary increases, commission and promotions should all be aligned with value creation (for the clients and for the company) and not based upon hours worked or seniority.
Learning and Development
You (the business owner/leader) should place a premium on learning from every interaction with a client. Every project – good or bad – successful or unsuccessful – should be formally reviewed by the team. Opportunities for improvement should be distilled, even from the most successful projects. These opportunities should be compiled in a central location. This can be as simple as a binder with some hand written notes, or as complex as an automated knowledge management system. The key is that there is one central location for all information and that information can be accessed easily.
Often learning and development suffers when workers are not all physically present in the same location. It is critical to keep people engaged in learning even though they may be in separate physical locations.
Frequent Social Events
Social activity is critical to the success of any organization. Invite all employees to get together frequently (monthly or quarterly) for a purely social gathering. Do not force a work discussion on them at these events. Allow them simply to get to know one another (and you). The bond of friendship that forms will only help your business. After all, you would not let a friend down in a time of need.
Acknowledge “Timeless and Locationless” Work
Let people know that achieving outstanding results while physically working less than 40 hours per week in the office is acceptable. In my firm we have several multi-million dollar sales people who rarely show up at the office. Nobody knows what they are doing yet somehow, magically, each of them always blow away his/her quota. Are they working hard? You bet. Some of them might be on the phone with a client for five hours in order to close a big deal. Does it matter if they take this phone call from their desk or from the beach? Not to me it doesn’t.
The key to success is to establish a culture that does not place a premium on the quantity of work but on the quality of it.
We need to establish a new paradigm for effort in the modern work world. That paradigm should be based upon results in conjunction with the culture of the company. If the results are achieved, and the process that lead to those results was legal, moral and ethical, why should the amount of time spent on that effort matter?
Some of the most successful business owners and leaders I have ever met are also some of the laziest people in the world. If you can get your job done in less than 40 hours per week you should be hailed as a hero and everyone in your company should learn from you.
Filed under: Behavior
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