Work hard or work well?

Many say the secret for a good life is ‘work hard and play hard’

Leila Hock, in an article for Career Contessa, disagrees – ‘work hard’ apparently “makes my eyes roll a little”

She believes we’ve become too preoccupied with “the grind” and it’s actually bringing us down – “It has a negative effect on productivity”

When people say they’re working hard they mean they’re putting a lot of time in – this mindset is because our economies once hinged on time:

  • Workers ran machines or performed rote tasks, and those machines and tasks would give a pretty static output per hour
  • Occasionally, someone would find a way to increase output per time unit but, usually, more time spent led to more productivity

 

Nowadays, developed economies have transformed into knowledge economies, and they require brainworkers/ thinkers to produce new/ better ideas, decisions and results

The problem is that appropriate performance measures to monitor their progress at work have not been developed – instead, the old familiar industrial-age measures and thinking continue to be used for the new economies

People still tie time to the value of work, not least because measuring time is easy – it’s a number and numbers can be easily compared

Hence, when most managers see someone arriving early at the office, leaving late and responding to emails at all hours of the night, they usually think said employee is committed to her work and trying hard – why would she spend all that time that way otherwise?

What most managers need to do is start measuring the value of employees’ work – and that means truly understanding why they were hired and what they were required to produce – and it’s not just the quantity but the quality of their output that now matters

Few managers do this at present, however, not least because it would take considerable time – and as hours input wins their attention more than productive work, such an exercise is deemed ‘a waste of valuable time’

Consider also the professions that still bill clients solely by their time inputs rather than ways which reflect quantifiable results achieved – and who value their employees by the hours/ days billed regardless of the value obtained by the clients – for example:

  • Lawyers
  • Management consultants
  • Accountants
  • Marketing and PR consultants

 

Leila ends up saying that, instead of such archaic thinking, what’s needed nowadays is a focus on ‘working smarter, not harder’ for the benefit of both customers and employees

Conclusions:

  • Success is no longer determined by hard work and long hours
  • Success comes from using time productively and being effective
  • That requires a focus on what one is trying to accomplish each day and week
  • And, once completed satisfactorily at least, one should relax

Leave a Reply

Your e-mail address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.