Unleash the power of the lazy

It often surprises managers to learn that people who always seem busy can often be quite unproductive.

Why I hear you ask?  Well, it’s simple, keeping busy and productivity are not the same thing.

When time and motion studies were carried out in factory lines it was discovered that those who made the least movements to complete their job were often the most productive. Let’s put that another way – some of those workers who were considered the laziest were in fact the most productive.

If you think about a machine, then less movements means less time which means faster work.

Efficiency is about achieving results with the minimum of effort. This should be our goal, not surrounding ourselves with perpetually busy cheerleaders.

For office workers measuring productivity is damned near impossible, but I am pretty sure that the same principles apply.

I often see people spending hours doing something manually that could be done very quickly with another piece of software, or even fully using the capabilities of the software they are already using.

For your own business, if you don’t need to do something to achieve your outcome, then don’t. If you apply any of the basics of time management and prioritisation then non-essential work patterns will become clear.

When looking at your employees, look for those who get the job done with a minimum of fuss in the minimum of time. Sure, sometimes lazy just means couldn’t be bothered, cynical and bored, but if you ask your people easier ways to do things and they are not afraid of retribution then life may become better for all.