Efficiency
versus Effectiveness
By
Wendy Hearn
What
is your level of effectiveness? What difference
would it make to your life and work if this level
were raised? One of the first steps to achieve
this is to understand what effectiveness really
means. Many people confuse effectiveness with
efficiency. They strive to become more efficient,
but their effectiveness doesn't always improve.
Sometimes, the price of greater efficiency is
less effectiveness.
Defining
Effectiveness
Being
effective means producing powerful effects. Being
efficient means producing results with little
wasted effort. It is the ability to carry out
actions quickly. However, by so doing, you may
not be achieving effectiveness. Effectiveness
involves achieving your worthwhile goals that
support your vision and mission.
For
instance, you may be very efficient at working
through and completing your to-do list. However,
when you shift your focus to being effective,
you may choose to delegate part of your list,
stop doing some of it, and focus on one or two
things that enable you to achieve your goals.
Perhaps you're efficient at sending follow up
letters to potential clients, but being effective
may mean only following up more comprehensively
on certain key ones.
Where
does your time go?
When
your intention shifts to being more effective,
you can achieve your worthwhile goals in much
less time. You choose the things that improve
your effectiveness instead of doing more and more
to achieve a sense of efficiency.
Effectiveness
comes from taking the time to stop and evaluate,
rather than running faster and faster. Discovering
for yourself what effectiveness means, and what
it will take for you to achieve this, is one of
the objectives of coaches when working with individuals
or organizations. When I'm working with clients,
we often focus on their effectiveness. Our weekly
telephone coaching session provides the opportunity
to stop, look at where they are and where they
want to be.
I
believe that effectiveness is enhanced when you
take time to re-evaluate. I'm also a great believer
in taking this time at regular intervals during
your day. So many people set out to work harder
and harder, without really looking to see if they're
being effective. I've found that what works best
for me is to work for 15 minutes slots with breaks
of a few minutes in between.
I
strongly believe that if more people worked this
way, companies would be much stronger and more
effective. For instance, lets say you're working
on a proposal. You work on it for 15 minutes and
then put it aside for the next few minutes. You
can use this break to stretch your legs, step
outside for fresh air, enjoy a period of quiet
reflection, or clear thoughts from your mind.
You choose what would be most beneficial.
When
you return to your proposal for the next 15 minutes,
you'll probably find that something occurs to
you which you had forgotten, or you didn't see
as being important. You may find you now have
a different perspective on it or you now have
a solution to something you were stuck on. It's
increased your effectiveness. When you only have
15 minutes, you'll work more effectively to achieve
more within this artificial deadline.
Work
smarter, not harder. You'll become far more effective
in achieving your goals and vision.
Wendy
Hearn Coach, works with business owners,
professionals and executives to discover and unlock
their own inspiration, to effortlessly take the
actions required to have the success they desire.
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to: newsletter@wendyhearn.par32.com
http://www.Business-Personal-Coaching.com
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