What do an orchestra and your organization have in common?
Both can be destroyed by the pursuit of efficiency.
Sounds strange, right? Stay with me.
One word that always comes up when I work with leaders to define why a change is needed and create their outcome story is efficiency.
Every leader, regardless of level, talks about the desire and need to make things more efficient.
And sure, efficiency sounds good, and it’s important. Who doesn’t want things to run smoothly with the least amount of effort and resources?
However, when it comes to change, efficiency is what I call a trigger word.
And trigger words like efficient and other similar words can quickly sabotage your change efforts.
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What Do We Mean by Efficiency?
Think for a minute. What does efficiency mean to you?
On the surface and operationally, being efficient makes sense. However, it’s when the word is used to describe the reason or desired outcome of a change that trouble begins.
One reason is that efficiency can mean different things to different people. Another is that, like other trigger words, it can raise the risk of a threat response.
Why Efficiency Is a Trigger Word
When you say, “We need to create efficiency” or “We need to be more efficient,” what employees may hear is:
I’m not good enough.
I’m not doing enough.
They’re looking to cut staff.
Or:
Do more with fewer resources and in less time.
Our natural response to a threat is to protect ourselves. As a result, people disengage and protect the status quo.
If you believe people resist change, then you label all these normal behaviours as resistance.
Without clarity about what you mean by efficient, you risk impeding innovation, losing the essence of what enables you to deliver quality services or products, and your organization becoming less than its potential.
What an Orchestra Can Teach Us About Efficiency
Dr. Henry Mintzberg, professor of management at McGill University, shares a wonderful story from the 1950s about an efficiency audit of a symphony orchestra that illustrates this perfectly.
It’s unknown where the original story first surfaced, but it goes something like this.
An orchestra hires a consultant to conduct an efficiency audit.
The consultant begins with the strings, noting that there are 16 violinists all playing the same part. That’s duplication.
So, they reduce the number of violinists to one.
Next, the consultant notices that entire passages of music are repeated. They eliminate all the repeated parts of the score because they waste time.
Then they turn to the woodwinds. Much of what they play is similar to the string section. So, the consultant removes the wind section and has the strings play their part.
Then comes the biggest impact on efficiency.
The consultant notes that the musicians spend nearly half their time sitting silently. Why should they be paid during rests?
Cut the downtime.
The result?
Instead of a sharper, leaner orchestra, it’s one devoid of any real music and life.
The richness of multiple violins playing together, the power of repetition to build emotion, and the silence between notes that gives music its meaning are gone.
When Efficiency Becomes the Goal of Change
That’s what can happen in organizations.
When you make efficiency the goal without clarifying what it means and its impact, you risk removing what makes creativity and innovation possible.
So, the next time you’re creating your story of change and are tempted to use efficient to describe the outcome, pause and ask yourself:
What does efficient mean to me, for the organization, our customers or clients, and the people who will make this change real?
Then use clear, concise, concrete language and words that describe its meaning and will inspire learning, growth, and innovation within the organization.
Define What Efficiency Really Means
When one organization stopped to define what they meant by efficient, they discovered it wasn’t about cutting steps.
In fact, they had to add two additional steps to a critical process.
Instead, efficiency was about people understanding the purpose of each step, their role, and having the autonomy to make decisions.
The result was a re-energized team and an innovative process that met their clients’ and organizational needs.
Create Space for Innovation
If you want your organization to thrive in a world of constant change, you need to use clear and concrete language and avoid trigger words.
Then create space for pauses, experimentation, and innovation.
If you’re wondering what that might look like, book a Change Strategy Call with me today, and let’s have a conversation.
