Don’t Confuse Efforts with Results
Recently I heard a couple of client employees commenting on how hard they are working to be noticed. I could tell by their conversation that they were both trying to position themselves for a favorable performance review and consequently, a raise or promotion. I never once heard them talk about their accomplishments. Effective employees (leadership or workers)work to achieve desired results in the least amount of time. They fight through Murphy’s Law (problems will happen)and they recognize the benefits from knowing how to use Pareto’s Law (80/20 rule)by applying it to their efforts versus the results they achieve. Lets explore this further:
It is important to an individual to be the most effective person they can be, whether in relationships, parenting, associating with friends and co-workers, as a volunteer within a non-profit organization, being an employee, or being an entrepreneur. One very important principle should be kept in mind – “don’t confuse efforts with results”. This may sound like common sense, but it happens to be a situation that is very unfamiliar to many people striving to be more effective. There are many periodicals, articles and books written about time management, which normally comes to mind when a person is asked what they believe “don’t confuse effort with results” really means. Time management can be defined as “a process for making best use of the time available in order to use that time in a desired manner.” Being more effective with the time available often gets lost in the process of daily activities. In the past 50 years, the average work week in the United States has been declining from the previous 50-year period. The cause of this decline is brought about by governmental intervention over the number of hours one can work without receiving overtime, and the advancement of the industrial and technological ages. No longer are a majority of Americans working from dawn to dark to earn a wage. Evidence of this reduction in the work week is the growing industries that now cater to people’s spare time, such as hobbies, recreation, entertainment and hospitality.
Time is precious. What’s new about that and what does that have to do with “don’t confuse efforts with results”? It has little to do with the actual time available and more to do with what is done with the time available. “To be effective with the time available” implies that the time is used in a very productive way. Being more productive can mean there is more time for doing fun things: to finish a home improvement project faster, launching of a new company sooner or getting more done in the workplace.
Focusing on what is being accomplished rather than how much time is being spent is the key issue for being more effective. How can understanding this principle make a person more effective? People improve most when they decide to make a change, focus on what it takes to make that change, provide the discipline to follow the steps set before them and then take the necessary action. This assumes a person wants to be more effective!
The next time you encounter a co-worker complaining or (surprise) bragging about the extra hours they are putting into their job or project without increased measurable results, ask yourself, “why are they saying this?” If they are paid by the hour, that may be part of the answer. Parkinson’s Law seems to have evolved within many workplaces through less than motivated employees with no differentiation as to whether or not it is focused on staff or management. Parkinson’s Law states, “work expands to fill the time available.” An interpretation of this law is that a person will make sure that they fill the time allotted to the task even if they can complete it sooner. The person following Parkinson’s Law is not the person searching to be a more productive individual. There are clear signs of organizations that are infected with this Parkinson’s Law cultural disease and following are some of the disease’s symptoms:
- Projects are always completed on schedule, because schedules are always changed to meet the anticipated completion date.
- People work more than the normal work week to meet deadlines.
- People work more than the normal work week in order to impress their leadership that they are strong performers.
- Those performing tasks have a lack of accountability.
- Leadership that focuses more on how things are being done rather than on what is being done.
- Higher levels of headcount than necessary to perform the organization’s mission.
These symptoms reflect many of the attributes of less than productive people and organizations. Parkinson’s Law is able to infect people and organizations because they both respond to activity and not results. Ah ha! There is the code to unlock the secret to the phrase “don’t confuse efforts with results”. The key here is that “results” should drive the person or the organization and not the activities directed to achieve the results. In many situations, the biggest excuse used is that people or organizations are so busy trying to get things done that they cannot actually get things done.
This sounds a little like what comes first, the chicken or the egg? How do you get results without the activities? The answer is that you don’t. The important fact to understand here is that the results are the most important items here, not how hard or how long people are working to achieve those results. If people or organizations hold themselves accountable for getting results, they become more productive. That means getting the task done the first time and on schedule. No extensions, no excuses, no wasted time and no confusion about priorities.
Results-oriented people understand that they should and will be evaluated based on what they contribute to the project or the mission of the organization. In organizations that are infected with the Parkinson’s Law cultural disease, the leadership may not be astute enough to recognize that these results-oriented people even exist. Results-oriented people may even be challenged by peers to back off and quit making everyone else look bad because they are more productive. In some cases, leadership does recognize the results-oriented person and then wrongfully takes advantage of them by redistributing more work from the “infected” employees to the “immune” employees. As a result, the infected people then coast even more. This is not a healthy situation for either side. In this case, one of two things will happen to the results-oriented people. They will either find a way to extricate themselves from this situation by moving on or they will also become infected as a cultural casualty. That would be a shame.
What does one do to become a results-oriented person?
- Decide to make a change.
- Keep desired results in sight at all times.
- Set priorities for key factors that contribute most to desired result.
- Determine resources needed to support priorities.
- Stay focused on priorities.
- Manage activities required to support priorities.
- Strive to exceed results expectations, such as quality and time duration.
There are two other Laws that have an effect on how to become a results-oriented person. First, Finagle’s Law of Dynamic Negatives is usually recited as, “anything that can go wrong, will—at the worst possible moment” and is a corollary to Murphy’s Law, which states that ““if anything can go wrong, it will.”. This law is used by infected people as an excuse for not getting results.
When things go wrong, infected people often give up and decide they cannot get the results they want in the time frame originally planned. Either they either decide that the result was not important enough to pursue and move to a new project, if they are working for themselves; or, they go to leadership and leave the issue with them to resolve. On the other hand, results-oriented people realize that there are going to be problems and these issues have to be addressed. They know that problems are a part of the process of getting results. They do not become paralyzed by these issues. They work through the issues, because the desired results are more important than the effort it takes to achieve them.
Secondly, Pareto’s Law or Principle, also known as the 80-20 Rule, states “80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes” If applied properly in any given situation, Pareto’s Law may be one of the most effective tools for increasing a person’s productivity level and there are no technical gadgets required. Applying Pareto’s Law to any area of life means that time and resources used to generate results are used in a very productive manner. Always remember that the “results” are the target, not just how well we manage the activities. Let’s explore a few examples of applying Pareto’s Law:
- Meetings- 80% of the needed information comes from 20% of the meeting attendees. Shorten the meeting by inviting only the 20%.
- Sales- 80% of all sales come from 20% of the sales force. Redirect the efforts to higher quality hiring and training of the top 20% of the sales force and reduce headcount and expenses.
- Customer Care- 80% of complaints or calls come from 20% of the customers. Implement techniques to address the 20% with less labor-intensive means - email/voicemail, etc.
- Operations- 80% of the problem symptoms are caused by 20% of the actual problem issues. Search for the 20% causes and achieve a multiplier effect for reducing problem symptoms.
- Results- 80% of the results achieved are generated with 20% of the efforts and resources. Evaluate the remaining 80% of efforts and resources and scale back to reduce costs.
Results-oriented people are the stars of any group or organization. They are the leaders in their area of expertise. They are successful entrepreneurs. They are individuals who don’t confuse efforts with results.
One Response to “Don’t Confuse Efforts with Results”
so true