Boosting Your Team's Efficiency: Focus on Intelligent Labor, Rather than Overwork
In a recent article by Mita Mallick for Harvard Business Review (HBR), published in June 2022, she offers actionable insights to help teams work more efficiently and effectively. The article focuses on three key areas: planning effectively, avoiding perfectionism, and fostering collaboration.
The first area, planning, encourages teams to set clear, focused goals that align with overall priorities to avoid wasted effort. Large projects are broken down into manageable tasks, creating a roadmap that reduces overwhelm. Regular check-ins are incorporated to track progress and adjust plans as needed, ensuring flexibility rather than rigid adherence.
The second area, avoiding perfectionism, promotes a mindset that values progress over perfection. Teams are encouraged to deliver "good enough" solutions quickly and iterate, rather than delaying finalization awaiting perfection. Excessive polishing is recognised as a time-consuming activity that often stalls creativity and delivery. Mistakes are seen as opportunities for learning, helping to reduce fear of failure and encourage experimentation.
The third area, fostering collaboration, creates an environment of psychological safety where all members feel comfortable sharing ideas and feedback. Diverse perspectives and skills are leveraged by encouraging open communication and cross-functional teamwork. Collaboration tools are utilised, and clear roles and responsibilities are established to streamline coordination and reduce duplication of effort.
By focusing on purposeful planning, embracing imperfection as part of growth, and nurturing a collaborative culture, teams can increase efficiency, innovate more freely, and achieve better results with less wasted effort.
The benefits of teams working smarter extend beyond the team itself. Teams that work smarter will see an impact on their work and the organisation's performance. This impact can serve as a retention tool for team members, as they are more likely to remain with an organisation that values their time and productivity.
However, the article also highlights a need to rethink the way collaboration is approached to improve performance, health, and well-being. Conventional wisdom on collaboration often leads to a type of collaboration that negatively impacts these areas. Leaders should coach the team not to pursue perfection to avoid delays and burnout.
Managers today are responsible for making decisions on a variety of aspects, including product features, launch, manpower, strategy, direction, vision, etc. (HBR). Employees are spending an average of 45 minutes more on meetings and responding to emails each day (HBR 2022/06). To combat this, leaders should encourage team members to ask for help when needed and help members connect with other people in the organisation for collaboration.
The article does not provide specific strategies for improving collaboration or reducing stress related to decision-making. It also does not discuss the impact of overthinking on performance or well-being. Furthermore, the article does not provide information on how the increased time spent on meetings and emails affects the overall productivity of employees.
In conclusion, by implementing the strategies outlined in Mita Mallick's article, leaders can help their teams work smarter, not harder, leading to increased efficiency, innovation, and better results for both the team and the organisation.
- To further enhance the performance of teams, alongside effective planning and efficient decision-making, fostering a collaborative culture in finance, business, and careers can lead to increased innovation and better results, as leaders guide their teams towards prioritizing progress over perfection.
- The advancement of careers and business productivity is contingent upon effective leadership that not only focuses on strategic planning but also cultivates a collaborative environment that values diverse perspectives, leverages collaboration tools, and encourages team members to ask for assistance when needed, ultimately resulting in improved team efficiency and organizational success.
