Not for efficiency’s sake

Avoid the trap of never-ending margin improvement and time-motion studies for the sole benefit of saving seconds. There’s no end to this game.

Benchmark your continual improvement by the effect it has for those you serve.

The purpose of eliminating hours of emails and manual back and forth isn’t to not need to respond to customers any more. Rather, it means you have the bandwidth and positive energy to provide an amazing experience to those who take the time to reach out to you.

You’re not developing excellent systems and making work smooth and enjoyable so that those employed are reduced to robots, cogs in a well-oiled machine. It is to do the noble work of creating order from chaos for others, and to free up energy to able to build relationships and work together toward the greater vision of your organization.

A little happy moment triggered this thought. One could say I’m a little obsessive about organizing things. The truth is I’m so chronically distractible that having things in order is a survival technique. I went to put my boots on and it was the third day in a row I had to re-lace several eyelets. A regular delay like this is something that could get to me. However, we have been working overtime systematizing work and home for several weeks and the result has been absolutely liberating, much more time to pause and enjoy the moment. And, they’ve been like this because one of Theo’s current favorite activities as he rallies before bed is finding my boots and pulling on the laces for a solid 30 minutes, and just the thought of his focus-face is completely melts my heart.