Work Less, Think More

Thinking before you act can save you a tremendous amount of time. Whenever we get a new project, we're tempted to jump right in and start, without considering "what are we trying to accomplish, and why does it matter to the organization?" Studies suggest that workers are only adding true value to the business during about 5% of the time they are at work.

Of course workers are busy 95% of the time they're on the job, so what's the problem? The problem is how much of the activity is a waste of time. Consider a software developer that writes code non-stop for two weeks. If it turns out that the code was sloppy, and it needs a week of QA and fixing to correct it, that's three weeks of activity for a beta. What if the product manager that spent two weeks designing it in the first place didn't use customer feedback in his design, and realizes in beta testing that they need another two weeks of changes to fix it? And what if the CEO realizes that the market he decided the company should get into, widgets, actually doesn't have the right margins and we're shifting to thingamajiggies and cancels the project? All that busy activity added no value to the business, unless the people in the process learned, as a group, how to think more about what they really want to accomplish BEFORE acting.

Motivate Through Aspiration, Not Fear

There is still a stereotype of the "kickass manager" who blows in, lays down the law (ever seen Glengarry Glenross?) and blows out, leaving his troops scared yet highly motivated through this fear of God...and they rise to the occassion to save the day by blowing their numbers away!

That might work once. Or twice. Or even longer, if your people aren't skilled or self-confident enough to find jobs elsewhere. But it's not the best way to build a great team that can make a business sustainably successful over the course of years.

People are motivated by 1) fear and 2) aspiration. Which one do you use more? What idea gives meaning or vision to each individual to create long-term, sustainable motivation?

Fear can work wonders in the short-term, but isn't a sustainable a motivator - it takes too much energy and burns you and your people out. Great managers first motivate through aspiration, and then secondly only occassional rally the team with adrenaline-producing anxiety around achieving major goals, deadlines and projects.