Combining Efficiency and Effectiveness: The Leader Who Gets the Right Things Done Well
Do it faster. Complete it for less money. Improve the quality. All sound familiar? How about combined? Do it quicker, cheaper, and better? Suddenly, it becomes a whole new ballgame. There is an ongoing challenge that leaders face in determining which is more important: efficiency or effectiveness. This is just at the individual level; companies are looking at this and the desire to do both is a constant pressure. That is amplified in today’s environment.
The real question at hand is not specifically about one or the other. From a leadership standpoint, it is about how do we (the team) do the right things, at the right time, in the right way. That is an equation (albeit not an easy one) that leaders must face that results in high-quality work that matters.
Saying that both (efficiency and effectiveness) are essential is easy. Doing them, combining them, getting the output from each in conjunction with the other is not. I have said many times that if things like this were easy, everyone would be doing it. Finding leaders, teams, and companies that consistently deliver on true efficiency and reliable effectiveness are rarer than you would want to admit.
I won’t cover in depth the definition of these two elements, as I did that in a previous article, The Difference Between Being Efficient and Effective. But I will call out a few of the key elements that show how they work hand in hand.
Effectiveness
What needs to be done? That is the best determination of effectiveness. If you can answer that question, then you can determine the right way (or most efficient way) of getting that work completed. Effectiveness is also a constant balance in quality. This is the management of quality over quantity. Efficiency will help to determine how much can be done of the tasks required. But if you’re doing the wrong things, does it matter how quickly you can do it?
One challenge for effectiveness is that it is more difficult to measure how you are doing. How do you know when or if you are working on the right things? It is how we find ourselves in a busyness trap, versus in the productivity zone we desire to be in. For this reason, you have to be able to take frequent pauses and objectively evaluate the work plans, and the output. It is okay to call ‘time out’ to evaluate where you are and what is being achieved.
Efficiency
The objective of efficiency is doing the right things at the right time. Then, completing that work with as little waste or excess overhead can ensure that you’re getting more of the right things done. Quantity or output will generally increase or improve with time. Thus, measuring the ‘number of widgets’ being produced on day one versus day 100 can vary greatly, and you cannot compare those two. If you know you need to get to the 100 per day output, the work becomes determining the steps that will get you there. But it started with why you needed those 100 widgets to begin with and what value they add to the company.
A reasonable conclusion can be that effectiveness is determined by the combination of the two parts. Real effectiveness is the sum of the two parts. To succeed to the full potential, long-term, you need to be efficient in what you do (no room for extra overhead or waste), and delivery quality (no defects, done right, every time) in doing the right things. If you can accomplish that, you have the definition of effectiveness, especially from a leadership perspective.
How do you combine efficiency and effectiveness in your role each day?
Additional Reading
Effectiveness vs. Efficiency: Why Successful Leaders Need Both
Effectiveness vs. Efficiency: What’s More Important?
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