Novus Leadership Institute

Helping you succeed despite relentless change

Insights

“Fast paced” = common productivity mirage

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Knowledge work is still in the grips of industrial mindset 66 years after Peter Drucker named it.

Exhibit A: how many job postings or descriptions have the words “fast paced” in them?

The phrase invokes some vague expectations of “speed” … whatever that means, since it’s rarely explained.

How does someone look “fast paced” in a job? Always be doing something, so when someone sees you, you will look busy.

The assumption: for maximum speed (assumed to be equate to productivity), we will always be doing something.

This is where a common productivity vanity metric often rears its head: “utilization” … which usually degrades into “how much time are you doing something“?

This then translates to “always look busy” for job survival.

It’s hard to look busy when you’re thinking … and thinking when needed is a key part of knowledge work.

The paradox: as long as “productivity” and job success is about looking busy, we won’t achieve higher productivity and job success.

How can you describe a job – whether for advertising an opening or as part of performance management – so that there are meaningful metrics?

Uncertainty is your friend

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Wait … how can uncertainty be my friend?

I also hear clients and past students saying “… but you said uncertainty was our enemy!”

Both are true.

The difference is where the uncertainty lies.

Knowledge work enemy

In knowledge work, uncertainty is an enemy during planning and execution of initiatives, projects, and so on. We often can’t say for certain how much something will cost, how long it will take, or even that we know exactly what we (or the market) want.

All we know for sure is that we are likely to be wrong – not exactly correct – a lot on the journey.

That causes problems. Our internal business budgeting systems aren’t geared for any uncertainty. People can have a hard time with not being right all the time. And so on.

We can compensate with feedback-based approaches and keep adjusting until we hit the target (see prior posts about this – here’s an example – or the book).

Strategy friend

Uncertainty in the market, however, can spell opportunity.

And the more uncertainty, the more potential opportunity.

People and businesses often either “freeze up” or retreat in the face of uncertainty.

We saw this during the pandemic and for some time afterward. As I noted then, fear and a strong desire to “go back to normal” reigned when the focus could have been on innovating forward.

When competitors are standing still, you can move forward and gain advantage.

When competitors are retrenching and moving backward you can gain advantage by just maintaining your position … or really gain advantage by moving forward.

It’s much easier to “win the game” when no one else if playing!

Do you lead effectively for both success and satisfaction?

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Worried about the economy?

Looking to increase efficiencies/productivity?

Make sure everyone is contributing to the bottom line?

If so, consider actions that affect both success AND satisfaction …

Why?

You can achieve either success or satisfaction alone.

Focusing on one, though, is not a good idea. Very few businesses can survive and thrive long-term that way. Or even short-term if you must take major actions to weather economic storms.

Unfortunately, research indicates focusing on both isn’t common. 90%+ of leaders have a strong inclination toward success or satisfaction … not both.

  • Success is results like better efficiency, productivity, competence, and profitability.
  • Satisfaction is more oriented toward enjoyment, relationship strengthening, and increasing commitment. This is usually reflected in higher morale, engagement, dedication, loyalty and passion.

The key is to recognize the preference and work toward high performance in both.

We have an assessment to help you with this.

It describes your your current ability to consistently achieve both success and satisfaction, along with suggestions for any improvements.

If you are a leader, contact us to try the assessment for free.

How to recession-proof your company

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Are you concerned about the economy and your company’s prospects?

A 3Q24 survey by AICPA & CIMA indicates you are not alone. Financial executive outlooks are worse than the quarter before, for:

  • The U.S. economy
  • The global economy
  • Their organization’s prospects, including for growth
  • Revenue and profit expectations … average profit projections for the next 12 months at an almost invisible 0.2% growth

Survey numbers indicate the big picture and averages.

However, business results are NOT evenly distributed at the average.

Typically:

  • 20% of businesses will achieve 80% of the $ and success
  • 4% will achieve 64% of the $
  • And just 0.8% will achieve 51% of the $

This means about 1 in every 100 businesses will accrue HALF of revenues. The middle will muddle along, treading water at best. 1 in 5 will suffer potentially crushing losses.

… and that is in NORMAL economic times.

During a softening economy or in down times, the stakes are even higher.

The market pie may be temporarily smaller. The bottom 80% of businesses scrambling for crumbs will face economic hurricanes. Those who stay in – or move into – the top 20% will feast during the famine.

Where is your business in that pecking order?

Regardless of where you are, you don’t have to take current results as your future results. You can take action to improve your prospects.

The starting point is assessing your organization’s capability to change and adapt … regardless of conditions.

This complimentary resource below will help you do that. It has 5 pages of assessment questions to help you get started plus some suggestions on how to proceed.

How to Recession-Proof Your Business

 

Link to survey source