We have / are all guilty of it. The six and seven day working week, the 50, 60, 70 or more hour week. The funny thing is that if you ask almost anyone to describe to you the Law Of Diminishing Returns they will be able to do it. The question I have is why do so many of us seem completely unable to link the Law Of Diminishing Returns and effectiveness?
Just for anyone who is unfamiliar with this law it states that “the profits or benefits from something will represent a proportionally smaller gain as more money or energy is invested in it.” This is the principle of diminishing marginal efficiency.
So, here’s the point. The more you work beyond a certain point, each minute or hour becomes less efficient and the marginal increase in output becomes less. In our macho world people hold up the number of hours they work as a badge of honour and even proudly state the number of “all nighters they have pulled.” We’ve talked abut the stupidity of this before in Why “Pulling An All Nighter Is Conning The Client”
Many businesses are still forcing their employees to work crazy hours despite all the scientific evidence that to become more productive, efficient and most of all effective there is a limit beyond which the benefits diminish. There can only be one reason for this nonsense and that is poor leadership. If the leaders still believe that the old ideas of “flog ’em till they drop” is the way forward then we have very bad (usually very well paid) people at the top of the organisation. These people are not leaders, at best they are poor managers. They don’t like the idea of flexible or remote working as it threatens their ability to control people which is the technique they use as they can’t lead.
Slowly things are changing. Good or even great leaders are emerging and they are moving organisations to effectiveness. It will take a while but one of the few good things that came out of the pandemic is that good leaders got a chance to show that there is another, better way. The Law Of Diminishing Returns gives us a method of measuring efficiency, productivity and effectiveness. Forward looking people are starting to use it big time, and it works.
I’m trying to employ it personally and whilst it is early days the results are looking good. The first part of being a good leader is leading yourself and I can hardly tell clients and readers of this blog it’s a great idea if I don’t employee it here first.
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