Image Source: · · · — — — · · ·, Creative Commons
Peter Drucker often spoke of being effective versus being efficient. His simple definition was: Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things. Much has been written by leadership and management gurus as well as Drucker himself about this concept and you can find many wonderful pieces on the web about this subject. But I would like to focus on one particular aspect that I often see relating to this topic; the development of people.
I have had many leaders and managers (including myself) say something to the effect of “It’s just quicker to do it myself.”
Often the reason or excuse is that:
- I don’t have time right now to teach someone.
- It would take me just as long to teach them as it would to just do it myself.
- And, even after I take the time to teach them, they won’t be as efficient or effective as if I just do it myself.
That’s being efficient: Get the job done. Get it done now. Get it done “right”.
Notice that getting the job done efficiently is not necessarily being effective. We live in such a rapidly changing world that we can no longer afford to be dependent on efficiency. Efficiency is the price of admission these days. Over the last decade or more I have observed my clients wring every ounce of efficiency out of their production, supply chain, and logistical systems. Efficiency simply keeps you in the game. Efficiency is no longer a game changer.
However, when it comes to people leadership and management, much of our effort is still focused on efficiency, not necessarily effectiveness. I posted an earlier blog on victim versus creator. Highly efficient systems can induce a victim environment by dictating every aspect of getting things done efficiently. Effective/creative systems tend to be messy, particularly on the front-end. Our effective desires and measurement systems don’t often have the tolerance for starting down that effective/creative path. But, without an effective/creative approach we won’t survive. The world is changing too rapidly to depend on efficiency.