Efficiency: One Simple Plan to Lose Less Money
Organizations would be rich if they stopped losing money.
20% of every dollar earned by a company in the US is lost to employee time theft. Losses from theft, fraud, and other retail “shrink” in 2019 totaled $61.7 billion.* That’s up 11.1 billion from the more honest year before.
The goal of losing less money begins with small desks. People behind big desks are comically blind to efficiency. They lose money while trying to cut costs.
Efficiency is inversely proportional to the size of a leader’s desk. The smaller the desk the more efficient the leader.
3 commandments to improve efficiency:
Open space on a desk is a lagoon of procrastination. Papers and folders pile up; follow-through goes down. A person with a small desk can’t put stuff off.
Commandment #1: Thou shalt give small desks to promoted leaders.
Distance weakens relationships. The greater the expanse between the person behind the desk and the person in front of the desk the thinner the relationship.
Thin relationships cost more money than tight.
Commandment #2: Thou shalt strengthen relationships when expectations go up.
Big desks encourage the illusion of importance. The more important you feel the less able you are to see reality.
Arrogance is less efficient than humility.
Butt kissing costs millions in lost productivity. Big desks inspire fraudulent compliments, dancing around the pole of veracity, and head nodding.
Leaders need to cultivate humility, not inflate their egos. Everything you do to protect ego infringes on efficiency.
Command #3: Thou shalt treat others as more important than yourself.
My simple plan to increase efficiency begins with eliminating big desks. Thankfully, in a mobile world desks and offices are less important. Don’t get me started on staging video calls.
What symptoms of arrogance do you see in organizations?
What advantages do you see in humble leadership?
Dig deeper:
7 Ways to Teach Humility in Team Meetings
3 Things We Get Wrong About Humility
How to Improve Your Productivity at Work
*56 Relevant Employee Theft Statistics: 2023 Data on Perpetrators & Prevention
“Dancing around the pole of veracity!” Nice word picture, Dan. Hope all is well.
Thank you, sir. Now if we can just dance with instead of around.
-Long meetings
-Long proposals
-Long sentences
-Long emails
-Long to-do lists
-And Big desks
Cut them all by 80%. A lot of what we do is waste. We’re inefficient.
Apply the 80/20 rule.
Long is connected to inefficient. I hadn’t thought of it that way. Much appreciated.
Depends on what you put on your big desk. I have a drum, a marble run, a photo album, a windup dancing robot, and paper tree on my big desk. In addition to letting folks know they can have fun at work, it also cuts down on the real estate available for papers to get lost. I use my filing cabinet for other things (like a second marble run, so I can switch them out) than files. Because there’s another way to lose things: file them in a big cabinet and forget about them.
Your desk sounds fun. The notion that a desk sends a message to people is new to me. After some thought it’s obvious, like all good ideas.
Good change of pace today. I preach “efficency and effectiveness”, but sometimes get caught up in the “messy desk” syndrome myself. Thanks for the reminder.
I hear you on the messy desk syndrome. I struggle to minimize the clutter. It’s definitely worth it. I prepare my desk for tomorrow when I’m done using it today. It feels good to sit down and go right to work.
I love the topic of efficiency. Sometimes it is the person closest to the task that is in the best position to make the task more efficient. Other times, it takes a stranger to look at a task and see all the inefficiencies built into it.
I don’t know if your readers know about this great book called “2 Second Lean” by Paul Akers but it is all about efficiency and an easy read. We learned a lot from it.
Thanks for the book recommendation. I’m a huge fan of making small adjustments frequently, although I often look for big change. Looking for big change can be useful, but when the water is muddy, keep making small changes.
Love your insight about people who are close or distant from an issue.
Thanks for the book recommendation. I’m a huge fan of making small adjustments frequently, although I often look for big change. Looking for big change can be useful, but when the water is muddy, keep making small changes.
Love your insight about people who are close or distant from an issue.
Where does this statistic come from? “20% of every dollar earned by a company in the US is lost to employee time theft.” That feels like a dangerous idea for a manager to embrace.
I’m so glad you asked. I forgot to include the link: https://financesonline.com/employee-theft-statistics/
I can share my desk was organized to an extent! Everything had its place, immediate, secondary and when time exists! The other side of the desk was the wall, so no space lost! Turn around and there was the print table, everything was spaced for purpose and completion of the projects.
So we ourselves need to be efficient before we can expect others. Its a life of developing organization to complete the circle. It all comes around!