We’ve been discussing Strategy the last couple weeks. Let’s continue in that vein.
And remember: whether you’re a butcher, a baker, or a candlestick maker, a business owner, a manager, a homemaker, a bricklayer, or a parent or spouse, these brief discussions on Strategy are relevant to you because everyone uses strategic thinking and everyone takes strategic action, perhaps not very skillfully, and perhaps without even knowing it. But you are a strategist. Yes, you.
Returning to our Karate metaphor: in the most effective styles of Karate, there is no wasted movement in self-defense. Many martial arts and fighting styles have all manner of wasted movement in this regard.
Typically, it’s unnecessary movement of the feet--for example, taking extra steps.
Sometimes it’s bouncing around.
Or the hands are doing funny things.
Or throwing flat-out garbage techniques that make no sense for the situation—one particular style of martial arts like to use lots of spinning kicks. Why? Very inefficient. A lot of wasted energy. Just go straight in and take the guy out with a hand technique.
The shortest distance between two points will ALWAYS be a straight line, not a big circle.
Suppose you’re being attacked. If you can immobilize your assailant with, say, two techniques, why in the world would you use five techniques, or some flashy technique that only “works” in the movies?
Why indeed? Usually it’s because of a person’s skill level—they haven’t yet learned to be efficient.
I have a friend whose convenience store was in the process of being robbed. One strike, robber down on ground, robbery over. Not a “flying this” or a “spinning that”. One technique.
Here’s today’s lesson: when it comes to strategy, people can be inefficient in two ways . . .
- STRATEGY CREATION: the strategy itself that has been created is inefficient . . . in other words, the chosen path to achieve the goal is too slow and clunky.
- STRATEGY EXECUTION: there’s an inefficient execution of an efficient strategy . . . in other words, we’ve chosen the right path to reach our goal, but we, ourselves are too slow and clunky as we follow that path.
Both are problems, and both will slow us down.
And this, my friends, is THE main problem with inefficiency: it’s too slow!
And do you really have the luxury of being too slow, of taking the long way around to getting the job done?
If I’m talking to someone in the business world, I know you don’t have that luxury, because your competition is lean and fast, and will bury you if you’re too slow! THEREFORE, my business friend,
- create a workable strategy that is efficient, and
- execute that strategy in an efficient manner.
If I’m talking to someone in a relationship, a parent of a young child, an employee that is in conflict with a co-worker, a coach of a high school football team, a cashier at Walgreen’s, a mayor of a town, or a CEO concerned about the bottom line--the same is true for all of you as well,
- create a workable strategy that is efficient, and
- execute that strategy in an efficient manner.
One crucial caveat: to be efficient is not to be hasty.
This article will resonate with some of you because you have an impulsive personality--all my “Ready-FIRE-Aim” people.
You THINK you hear me saying, “do everything fast”. No. Do everything efficiently. There’s a HUUUUGE difference.
Impulsivity, or sloppy strategy, is just another form of inefficiency! You’ll feel good because you think you’re being expeditious, BUT YOU’RE SIMPLY CREATING MORE PROBLEMS THAT SOMEONE WILL HAVE TO MOP UP LATER (all caps=yes, I am yelling . . . but yelling efficiently:).
Remember, efficiency is no wasted movement. Nevertheless, you DO need to have ENOUGH movement to get the job done.
This next week, I invite you to consider how efficient you are as you work to achieve your tasks, your daily goals, or your weekly targets. Trim the fat. Lean and mean.
--Sean Cox, Chicago