Senior candidates at one global tech company have to undergo a thirty stage process before a hiring decision is made. This is a classic example of productivity drag: the sludge in the system that gets in the way of getting things done. It’s what I call crazy busyness.
Here are some symptoms of productivity drag. Do you recognise any of them?
1. Too much going on.
There always seems to be new projects, but complex systemic problems are kicked down the road because there’s no appetite to tackle them until they turn into a crisis. If routine requests aren’t marked as urgent they often get ignored.
2. Too many people in the tent.
There are too many egos and opinions and no sense of common purpose. It’s hard to pin anyone down for a decision. Output falls between the cracks because of a lack of role clarity and accountability. The wheels still turn but everyone is in the weeds. No one seems to be scanning the horizon for risks or opportunities.
3. Too many communication channels.
People try to fit their work into small slices of time between messages, meetings and other interruptions. Essential planning happens in the early mornings or late evenings. It seems indulgent – or impossible – to do it during the working day.
4. Too many people problems.
Managers don’t have time to develop people or even communicate properly with them. The ‘people stuff’ is a distraction from their real job. Apart from formulaic one to ones, they don’t really talk to their teams. This leads to obvious problems, internally and externally with customers. They lose people worth keeping.
Work with ease in 2025
If you are bogged down with sluggish operations like this you’ll lose the race against your more nimble competitors.
Removing productivity drag is the vital bridge between strategy and execution. It doesn’t matter how talented your team is.
Research shows that in corporate life we waste at least 25% of our time fighting drag. That’s more than a lost day per person per week, in a time when resources are already under pressure.
Here’s the stages.
1. Book me for early 2025 to talk to your leaders and teams about weeding out productivity drag and crazy busyness. Spot it, label it, fix it. I’ll provide copies of The Crazy Busy Cure.
2. Then get a crack team together to identify everything that gets in the way of getting things done. Don’t do a survey, talk to people. Ideally do their tasks with them to understand the issues. Map out the glitches and schedule time to fix them.
3. Put working with ease at the centre of your culture. Reward valuable work, not busy work. Don’t let the sludge build back up. At the end of every project or completion of work ask how you can work together more efficiently next time. Train managers to smooth the workflow.
Feel free to share this email. If anyone says that they’ll circle back to you on it another time, that’s crazy busyness right there.
Zena Everett
International Speaker, Author, Leadership Team Coach
See my talks and programmes here: www.zenaeverett.com
Animations: YouTube
Start a conversation: zena@zenaeverett.com
Let’s talk: +44 7968 424650
How badly do you need a Crazy Busy session ? Try my quiz and watch my animation on prioritisation.
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