Great teams make sure they are climbing the right mountain effectively. Other teams sometimes spend their time trying to climb the wrong mountain more efficiently.
The same principles can apply to individuals. Some people are extremely effective and then add efficiency. Some are efficient but turn out not to be effective.
Effectiveness Plus
Efficiency in The Past
Looking back at your own work, can you think a team that was highly effective? What did they do right then? What were the principles they followed?
Great teams start by being effective in their goal setting. They clarify the real ‘What’ before moving on to the ‘How’. They ask questions such as:
“What are the real results we want to achieve? What is the picture of success?”
They then focus on pursuing effective strategies. They ask: “What are the key strategies we can follow to give ourselves the greatest chance of success?” After establishing the strategies, they focus on how they can implement these efficiently.
Some teams shower their people with instructions to be more efficient. People are urged to work smarter and reduce inefficiencies. Such ideas may certainly be worthwhile. But it is important to make sure people are climbing the right mountain.
Many institutions focus on goals that were relevant years ago. People can make the processes more efficient, but this will not help. The institution needs to work towards more relevant goals to thrive in the modern world.
If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to do the following things.
Looking back on your work, can you think of a team that was both effective and efficient? If you feel it is more relevant, you may want to think of a person who embodied these qualities. What do you think the team – or person – did right to follow these principles?
Effectiveness Plus
Efficiency in The Future
Let’s assume that you work in a team. You may be the leader or a team member. Looking to the future, how do you think the team can be more effective? You can also ask the same questions about yourself as an individual.
If you are looking at a team, you may want to consider the practical things it can do:
To be effective in its goal setting by focusing on the real results it wants to achieve and defining its picture of success;
To be effective in clarifying the key strategies it can follow to achieve the goals;
To be effective by making sure it has the right people in the right places and helps them to implement the strategies in the right way;
To be effective in the many aspects of building a positive culture – such as recruitment, interviewing, induction, encouraging people to use their strengths, providing great customer service, simplifying processes and other aspects of running a team;
To be effective in continuing to develop the team and ensuring it achieves ongoing success.
There are many ways to explore these themes. One approach when working with organisations is to ask:
“If you were starting this organisation again with a blank piece of paper, what would you do?
“What would be your goals? What would you do to organise your resources to achieve these goals? What would you do to ensure you gave yourselves the greatest chance of success?”
The blank piece of paper approach is one that some people use when aiming to improve systems. Instead of simply making the present systems more efficient, they ask:
“If we started again today and had a blank piece of paper, what would we do to achieve the desired outcomes?”
Sometimes this approach is necessary, particularly with the advent of new technologies. Otherwise they keep trying to improve outdated processes and, as Henry Ford was rumoured to say – but probably didn’t, they end up trying to design a faster horse.
There are many ways to focus on effectiveness and then efficiency. If you wish, try tackling the exercise on this theme. This invites you to do the following things.
Describe a specific example where you would like to focus on effectiveness plus efficiency to deliver success.
Describe the specific things you can do to focus on effectiveness plus efficiency.
Describe the specific benefits of doing these things.
Leave a Reply