![]() They invest in a work management platform to coordinate information across various levels of their organization and connect individual initiatives to broader company goals. The team starts by taking steps to solve for effectiveness and get everyone on the same page. They don’t have clarity on what value prop they’re communicating, how it benefits their customers, or what messaging to prioritize on the home page. At first, the team is neither effective nor efficient. The goal is to redesign the company home page to better communicate the company value prop. Take, for example, a cross-functional project between the creative and web design teams. Then, once you’ve developed effectiveness as a practice, you can optimize for efficiency-in other words, doing the same effective work in less time. So, start by solving for effectiveness before working on efficiency.īy prioritizing effectiveness, you’re ensuring that your team is working on initiatives that move the needle towards relevant company goals. But you have to start from somewhere-and trying to implement both methodologies at once might not get you the desired effect. Ideally, you want to build a team that is both efficient and effective. How improving effectiveness increases efficiency The next week, the pitch has the desired result: the client decides to move forward with your product! They decide to go in a different direction.Įfficient and effective: The team has a clear workflow in place and is able to build a deck and demo in five days. Ultimately, the team is able to scrape something together, but it doesn’t speak to the true value of your product or communicate your competitive position to the client. Neither efficient nor effective: The team hasn’t fully built out their sales processes, so no one is clear on who’s creating the deck or demo. You spend several more weeks negotiating and pitching. The customer is dissatisfied with how much time it took to hear back from your team. Not efficient but effective: The team works together to build a state-of-the-art demo and deck, but it takes them two weeks. ![]() They decide to go in a different direction. Ultimately, the presentation materials didn’t speak to their specific company needs. But once they present, the potential client is dissatisfied because the content focused on the wrong things. Here’s how the process might pan out depending on whether your team is efficient, effective, neither, or both:Įfficient but not effective: The team builds a deck and demo in just three days. The IT department has gotten involved, and they’ve asked for a pitch and demo from each of the three products they’re considering implementing. Imagine your sales team is pitching your product to a new enterprise client. Alternatively, an effective team that isn’t efficient is getting the right work done-but not at the ideal velocity. An efficient team that isn’t effective is getting work done quickly-but they may be prioritizing the wrong initiatives. In order to run a truly great team, you need efficiency and effectiveness. ![]() They have a clear sense of how their work fits into the larger company strategy and goals, and they use this knowledge to inform what to work on and where to dedicate their resources. In a recent study of over 6,000 knowledge workers, only 26% of employees reported having a very clear understanding of how their individual work relates to company goals and just 16% said their company is very effective at setting and communicating goals.Įffective teams know how to successfully prioritize and dedicate appropriate resources to important initiatives. ![]() Today, few teams are effective at connecting their current work to broader company goals. Measure progress against specific metricsĮffectiveness means working on the “right” things-that is to say, things that drive business value and move the needle on company goals. What is efficiency?Įfficiency means doing things “right”-whether that means moving faster, getting work done with fewer resources, accomplishing big projects with a smaller budget, or otherwise doing “more” with “less.”įocus on the work directly in front of them To find that sweet spot, start by understanding what each term means and when you should focus on each metric. In his book, The Effective Executive, Peter Drucker stated that “efficiency is doing things right, effectiveness is doing the right thing.” Ideally, you want to build a team that’s both efficient and effective-after all, everyone wants to do the right things right. ![]() But understanding the difference between these two business strategies can help your team succeed. If you’ve never thought about the difference between efficiency and effectiveness, you’re not alone-in fact, most teams use these terms interchangeably. ![]()
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