NFL player Marshawn Lynch gave a masterclass back in 2015 on what it looks like to be disengaged and do the bare minimum to keep your job, meet the requirements and mind your business. He was over "looking busy & engaged".
Disengagement is usually the outcome of navigating productivity and busyness. People know when they have just been given busywork it looks like things just to look good in front of "bosses" or investors, meetings on Friday afternoons or be added to a conference call that doesn't matter. Somebody is trying to impress "somebody" and employees are caught in the middle.
Even leaders frequently find themselves caught in a whirlwind of activities, meetings, and tasks, but at the end of the day, the question remains: Are we truly being productive and efficient, or are we sucked into the illusion that productivity means looking busy?
The Illusion of Busyness
Busyness has become a badge of honor in many corporate cultures. Long hours, back-to-back zoom meetings, and a packed outlook calendar are often seen as indicators of dedication and hard work.
It doesn't mean that at all.
In fact, it could mean just the opposite. Meaning, you are unorganized, have no cadence to your business and you meet with 7 people in different meetings everyday and get no actual work done.
Busyness is deceptive. It creates an illusion of effectiveness, masking the reality that not all activities contribute meaningfully to organizational goals.
Busyness is about quantity, not quality. It's about "filling time" rather than using it effectively. It gives a false sense of accomplishment, where the focus is on doing more rather than achieving more. This mindset can lead to burnout, turnover, decreased job satisfaction, and a lack of progress on strategic objectives.
Understanding True Productivity
Productivity, on the other hand, is about making the best use of your time and resources to achieve specific, impactful goals. It’s about prioritizing tasks that align with your strategic vision and contribute to the overall success of the organization.
Productive leaders focus on outcomes, not just outputs.
To distinguish productivity from busyness, consider these key differences:
Goal Alignment: Productive activities are aligned with clear, strategic goals. Each task should move you closer to achieving your objectives. In contrast, busyness often involves tasks that are urgent but not necessarily important.
Efficiency and Effectiveness: Productivity involves working efficiently, using tools and techniques to streamline processes. It’s about finding better ways to achieve more with less effort. Busyness, however, often means taking the longest route to complete a task, without considering more efficient alternatives.
Prioritization: Productive leaders prioritize their work based on importance and impact. They delegate non-essential tasks and focus on what truly matters. Busy leaders, however, tend to get bogged down in minor details and low-priority tasks due to a failure to delegate appropriately.
Another thing to consider is "MEETING FATIGUE". THIS IS A BIG ONE. Filling up your calendar with meetings to "look busy" can lead to simply wearing people out. Frequent meetings can lead to fatigue and a sense of meeting overload, reducing overall productivity and enthusiasm. For example, the strenuous daily "touch base" meeting was started with good intent, BUT they often focus on immediate tasks and do not allow for deep dives into more complex issues, leading to superficial problem-solving. Information shared in daily huddles can become repetitive, wasting time and leading to disengagement among participants and people simply showing up "so they don't get fined".
So how do you get out of the busyness cycle?
Prioritize Ruthlessly!
Identify the most important tasks that will drive progress towards your goals. Use tools like the Eisenhower Matrix to distinguish between urgent and important tasks.
The Eisenhower Matrix divides tasks into four quadrants based on their urgency and importance:
Quadrant I: Urgent and Important – Tasks that require immediate attention and are critical to your goals. These often include crises, pressing problems, and deadlines. While these tasks cannot be ignored, constantly operating in this quadrant can lead to stress and burnout.
Quadrant II: Not Urgent but Important – Tasks that are crucial for long-term success but do not require immediate action. These include strategic planning, relationship building, and professional development. Focusing on these tasks is key to proactive and sustainable productivity.
Quadrant III: Urgent but Not Important – Tasks that demand immediate attention but do not significantly contribute to your goals. These often include interruptions, some meetings, and most emails. These tasks can drain your time and energy if not managed properly.
Quadrant IV: Not Urgent and Not Important – Tasks that are neither time-sensitive nor valuable to your goals. These include trivial activities and time-wasters such as excessive social media use or unnecessary meetings. Minimizing or eliminating these tasks is essential to regain focus.
To effectively use the Eisenhower Matrix, I suggest the following steps:
List Your Tasks: I am a BIG proponent of lists! Begin by listing all your tasks and activities. Include everything that consumes your time, from major projects to daily routines.
Categorize Tasks: Assign each task to one of the four quadrants. Be honest and critical in your assessment, focusing on the true impact of each task on your goals. A whiteboard or giant sticky note would be great for this.
Prioritize Quadrant II: Prioritize tasks in Quadrant II (Not Urgent but Important). These tasks are the most valuable for long-term success and should be scheduled regularly. Investing time in these activities helps prevent crises and reduces the time spent in Quadrant I. Use your calendar to MAKE time.
Manage Quadrant I: Address tasks in Quadrant I promptly, but strive to reduce their frequency by planning and preparing in advance. Effective delegation and proactive problem-solving can help manage urgent and important tasks without constant firefighting. That gets old really quick.
Minimize Quadrant III: Reduce or delegate tasks in Quadrant III. Recognize that not all urgent tasks require your direct involvement. Train your team to handle interruptions and delegate tasks that do not align with your strategic goals. Build your squad and train them to flow without you helicoptering over them.
Eliminate Quadrant IV: Identify and eliminate tasks in Quadrant IV. These activities offer little to no value and should be minimized to free up time for more important work. Ctl + Alt + Del.
Remember, the true measure of effectiveness lies in achieving meaningful progress towards your objectives, not in the mere appearance of activity. A rocking chair has a lot of movement but actually goes nowhere. Busyness is overrated. Let's be productive.
Commentaires