Seeking Efficiency

Recently I loaned a friend my copy of the book, "Cheaper by the Dozen," by Frank Bunker Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey.  I claimed, perhaps with some exaggeration, that this was the book that defined my whole approach to life.  In fact, it did have a big impact on my thinking about efficiency.  The book is about a couple, both of whom are time and efficiency experts, with twelve children.  The book is written by two of the children, and it is a series of tales about how their parents, mostly their rather eccentric father, applied efficiency methods to the running of the household.  In one story, father sits, fully clothed, on the living room floor, surrounded by children, and demonstrates the most efficient way to take a bath.  You might enjoy either the book or the movie.

This book's impact on me was to get me thinking about the most efficient way to approach most any task.  I like to get things done as quickly and efficiently as I can, and I believe that giving some thought to the method enables me to do this, at least most of the time.

It is possible for this emphasis on efficiency to backfire, though.  For me, the down side of the emphasis on efficiency comes when I try to rush through something that really requires a more careful approach.  Rushing often results in mistakes, which then take more time to correct.  Rushing and mistakes mess up my efficiency.  I have to watch myself and remind myself to slow down when this happens.

On a somewhat larger scale, I have observed many improvements in our departmental processes over the years.  Often these improvements result when a team puts their collective minds to process improvement.  Process improvement requires looking skeptically at the steps in a process and asking what is the purpose for each one.  Many times, a step is there for some historical reason that no longer applies.  Once it is removed from the process, things move more quickly.  Another strategy is to look for roadblocks in the process and to revise the process to remove or minimize them. 

Spend some time thinking about efficiency, and you may be surprised by the positive outcomes. 

Making Continued Progress

It is summer, and those of us in higher education IT generally enjoy the extra time to focus on projects.  Most students and faculty are gone from campus, and there are many fewer meetings.

I have really been enjoying having the time to dig into projects that take more thinking time than I often have during the academic year.  However, it can sometimes be difficult to stay focused on making continued progress.

The article "3 Motivational Mind Tricks Designed to Power Progress," by Janet Choi, offers some useful suggestions.  Her three tricks are:

1. Seeing progress boosts your performance.
2. Even the illusion of progress spurs motivation.
3. A lack of progress isn't the end of the line.

I encourage you to read her article for some interesting research, examples, and expansion on these ideas.

For my own part, I know how easy it is to procrastinate when a project seems too large and complex.  I've noticed that sometimes just starting the job, without holding the requirement of finishing it over my head, can help me make progress and get to the goal.  Just starting the job demonstrates to myself that I can make progress.  Choi's article made me realize what a motivator this is.

So next time you are feeling stuck, try starting!  You might be surprised how starting gets to ending more quickly than you had imagined.  And for those really long and arduous tasks, break them into smaller tasks and start the first one.  Then start second one.  Before you know it, you'll be done.

Push and Pull for Change

I have been thinking about implementing change lately.  Change often requires some push and pull between those who want the change and those who object to it.  Frequently this seems to be management pushing and staff pulling, but I have been pulled by other managers or customers, too.

Often I find this frustrating.  I have this great idea, so why can't these other people see how great it is and jump on board with me?  Why are they trying to slow me down?  Why do I have to hear all of these objections and detailed concerns?  Let's just do it!

Of course, in my saner moments I see great value in this push and pull.  I have had experiences of implementing change without giving the push and pull enough time, and occasionally I've had to back out or cancel the change entirely.  I try to remind myself often to slow down and listen to concerns.

At the same time, I hope that those who often resist change might come to see the value in trying out new ideas and strategies.  If you are the type of person who often starts at NO, you might consider trying to start more often at MAYBE.

I also hear concerns about not having change completely thought out in advance of trying to implement it.  I agree that thoughtful planning is very valuable.  Nevertheless, sometimes it can be hard to see exactly how something is going to roll out until you get into the middle of it.  I like incremental improvements in some situations.  So I invite others to become a part of the change and add strategies and improvements of your own along the way.

Pushing and pulling is a natural part of change.  In most cases, we can work together to make a good change by not pushing or pulling too hard.

Learn and Relearn

Last week we brought MOR Associates to campus to provide another leadership training session for IT staff and managers.  This time we invited the Crookston, Morris, and Rochester campuses to send participants.  We found their contributions really helped us to think more broadly across the UM System.  We greatly appreciated Greg Anderson and Lori Green, our trainers, for the fantastic job they did in helping us to work on issues that really mattered to us.  It was a great session.

We had eight new participants this time, including five from the other campuses.  During the morning of the first day, the new participants worked with Lori on some skills that others had learned in previous sessions.  I sat in on this session for the new people and found that I had a chance to relearn an important lesson that I have learned several times before.

The lesson that I relearned is that feedback is a gift.  When someone offers feedback, I should simply accept the feedback by saying, "Thank you."  Despite having learned this lesson several times, I find that it is so easy to forget it.  I have several examples over the past month where I got defensive, offered an explanation, or just generally forgot to say, "Thank you."  I have to keep reminding myself that thanking someone for feedback doesn't necessarily mean that I agree with the feedback.  It simply means that I appreciate the person going out on a limb to offer it.  I will get more out of the feedback that is offered by taking it along with me to mull over and decide later how to respond.

I think this learn and relearn strategy is perhaps just being human.  The hard lessons are the ones we have to repeat several times before we really get it.  And even then, we might backslide sometimes.  But practice makes perfect, they say.  I'll keep working at it.