Research says as much as 92% of our work time is wasted…yikes!
A study by Tor Dahl, former chairman of the World Confederation of Productivity Science, indicates that the average American business wastes or misdirects work time the following ways: 23% waiting on approval, materials, or support; 20% doing things that shouldn’t even be done; 15% doing things that should be done by someone else; 18% doing things wrong; and 16% by failing to do the right things.
If those stats don’t make you want to study your workflows, establish standard and expectations in your organization…..you’re…..ok I won’t go Ll the way there, but you get my drift. With the increasing complexity of our world, we must learn to streamline – here when you scrape yourself off the ceiling after you realize how much that 92% operational waste is costing you.
“Fast organizations will be as large as necessary and as small as possible. Like computer chips, they will shrink in size while they grow in value. The recipe for action is simple; change your organization as fast as your business changes — and no slower”. Stan Davis and Jim Botkin, authors of The Monster Under the Bed.
Look at your tools. If its not already dour of date, chances are it will be soon, so don’t get attached to your “stuff”. If you can’t let go of it, when the world of work retires that equipment, you’ll be abandoned along with it.
Figure out what’s changing in your tools and methods that will alter the way you work. Be open to completely new technologies and learn to use them, if not master them. Above all, don’t defend your “old” tools and equipment, much less dusty mindset. Resisting change is a pretty hopeless fight and probable isn’t in your long-term best interest.
Think about it, are you impressed when you see professionals in other industries fighting against the future? Examples might include these ideas: a doctor who refuses to allow a diabetes patient test their own blood sugar level at home. What about bank tellers who picket the ATM machine locations. What about a host of receptionists that try to get a law passed outlawing answering machines……all ridiculous, but we do it, or have staff in our organizations who fight the advancement of “new tools” and ideas that help us do what we do every day…..better! What’s yours? We can help!
It has been estimated that 80% of the jobs available in the US within 20 years will be cerebral, and only 20% manual – the exact opposite ratio in 1900. There are more computer-literate 1st graders than computer-literate 1st grade teachers. Can you beat a 6yr old at Wii? Jennifer James, author of Thinking in the Future Tense.
