Working Smarter
The latest issue of BusinessWeek magazine carries a special report on the epidemic of increasing work hours and time constraints that are driving professionals to the brink. "Over 31% of college-educated male workers are regularly logging 50 or more hours a week at work, up from 22% in 1980. About 40% of American adults get less than seven hours of sleep on weekdays, up from 34% in 2001. Almost 60% of meals are rushed, and 34% of lunches are choked down on the run."
"This epidemic of long hours at the office defies historical precedent and common sense. The Information Revolution has boosted productivity by almost 70%." Yet, we're all working harder, longer hours, and are finding less downtime. "Succeeding in today's [global] economy requires lightning-fast reflexes and the ability to communicate and collaborate across the globe." Even within organizations, business units can longer afford to work in silo. There are just too many inefficiencies -- loss of potential -- from operating units that are independent of each other. Innovation -- value -- comes from collaboration. It's all about the network stupid.
Great -- but how to solve this problem? How do you bring collaboration to the masses? Organizations have been struggling with internal collaboration for sometime now, and the independent fiefdoms still exist, remain healthy, and generally regard each other with mistrust. Collaboration between businesses have fared no better. Yes, there are open standards and processes that have industry-giant backing -- but so what? There's hardly any trust to adopt collaborative processes fully. BusinessWeek suggests that this problem has an Achilles heel -- namely, the existing hierarchical and manager led corporate structure. Shoshana Zuboff, a former Harvard Business School professor says, "Nobody wants to give up their territory or control." Lowell Bryan of McKinsey & Co., says: "Professionals are still being managed as if they were in factories, in organizations designed to keep everybody siloed. At less well-run companies, you're struck by how frustrated people are. They work like dogs and are wasting time." BusinessWeek suggests that there is good news for this problem to be solved. Smart organizations will become successful at collaboration, and they will become successful, killing their less nimble competitors. To become successful, companies will have to make it easier for their employees to work smarter and deal with processes that ever increasingly complex.
Of course, you always read about those companies in industry press -- but how many of us actually work for one of them? While we may not as individuals, be able to incite a revolution to get back control of our lives, we could influence the small sphere around us. If you're a manager with staff, read the article and try changing your team to encourage collaboration and increase the chances of personal and business success. At the very least, you should be able to give back a little bit of sanity to your staff.
"This epidemic of long hours at the office defies historical precedent and common sense. The Information Revolution has boosted productivity by almost 70%." Yet, we're all working harder, longer hours, and are finding less downtime. "Succeeding in today's [global] economy requires lightning-fast reflexes and the ability to communicate and collaborate across the globe." Even within organizations, business units can longer afford to work in silo. There are just too many inefficiencies -- loss of potential -- from operating units that are independent of each other. Innovation -- value -- comes from collaboration. It's all about the network stupid.
Great -- but how to solve this problem? How do you bring collaboration to the masses? Organizations have been struggling with internal collaboration for sometime now, and the independent fiefdoms still exist, remain healthy, and generally regard each other with mistrust. Collaboration between businesses have fared no better. Yes, there are open standards and processes that have industry-giant backing -- but so what? There's hardly any trust to adopt collaborative processes fully. BusinessWeek suggests that this problem has an Achilles heel -- namely, the existing hierarchical and manager led corporate structure. Shoshana Zuboff, a former Harvard Business School professor says, "Nobody wants to give up their territory or control." Lowell Bryan of McKinsey & Co., says: "Professionals are still being managed as if they were in factories, in organizations designed to keep everybody siloed. At less well-run companies, you're struck by how frustrated people are. They work like dogs and are wasting time." BusinessWeek suggests that there is good news for this problem to be solved. Smart organizations will become successful at collaboration, and they will become successful, killing their less nimble competitors. To become successful, companies will have to make it easier for their employees to work smarter and deal with processes that ever increasingly complex.
Of course, you always read about those companies in industry press -- but how many of us actually work for one of them? While we may not as individuals, be able to incite a revolution to get back control of our lives, we could influence the small sphere around us. If you're a manager with staff, read the article and try changing your team to encourage collaboration and increase the chances of personal and business success. At the very least, you should be able to give back a little bit of sanity to your staff.
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