Entrepreneurs: Working Smarter
by Miki SaxonHave you ever noticed that you have a conversation or meet someone with an unusual name and within a day the same subject/name keeps popping up?
Yesterday I wrote about working long hours for bragging rights, along with the resulting perils.
This morning I got up to find a great post from Steve Blank in my mailbox.
In Working Hard is not the same as working smart Blank talks about the fallacy of measuring effectiveness in the 21st Century based on hours worked.
In the 20th century we measured work done by the number of hours each employee logged. (…) This was perpetuated by managers and CEOs who had no other norms and never considered that managing this way was actually less effective than the alternatives.
Blank recommends three actions to start building a better measurement system than hours.
- Define the output you want for the company getting input from each department/division
- Define the output you want for each department
- Ensure that the system does not create unintended consequences
You can get the details in the original post.
And I’ll add the following
- Focus on the human side
- Make sure you have full buy-in from all managers
- Be sure your team understands completely
- Monitor the human side and correct as necessary
Finally, never forget that excessive hours are the result of bad management and are unsustainable.
Image credit: Judit Klein