Are you being Efficient or Effective?
Oct 31, 2022
There is a saying “Being efficient is doing things right, being effective is doing the right things” (Peter Drucker).
There is a big difference between being efficient and being effective.
Efficiency happens every day, for example making sure all of your daily numbers are done and ready for the morning meeting or having everything prepared for your weekly toolbox or managers meeting. Efficiency helps you to make sure the right boxes are being ticked at the right time. We all need to be efficient.
Being effective is taking your interactions to a higher level, where you can be strategic and add more value. Sure tracking your daily production is important to let you know if you are on track for your monthly target; but what are the behaviours that make your team operate in an effective way?
Ask yourself, if my team knows what our target is, do they know how we want to meet target?
OR If I have the information ready for my meeting, what is the messaging I want to convey with it?
Does your team know what your expectations are in relation to behaviours? What are the behaviours that you want people to engage in, so targets are achieved the right way. When you see your team engaging in the right behaviours do you give them feedback?
This is where being effective comes into play.
If you are flat out every day getting the right ticks in the right boxes, wrestling with systems and processes, feeling like you are not getting ahead, your focus is most likely to be on creating efficiencies to give you time and space to be more effective. If your systems are in place, and you can start being strategic with your people, your conversations and your plans, this is an indicator you are operating in a more effective space and adding more value.
A good way to check in is to ask yourself these questions:
- What does my day/week/month look and feel like when I am being effective?
- Am I being efficient (putting the tick in the box) or effective (strategic) right now?
- Where are my opportunities to be more effective?
- How can I implement one of these? (depending on your workload you can start with one that will make the biggest difference and build on that or start with a small first step and get some runs on the board.)
Knowing the difference between being efficient and being effective and knowing where you spend most of your time is important to know where you are adding value.
Being the person to take action towards being more effective is what will make a difference.
Lead with Purpose, Karissa
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