The Myth of Busyness: How to Be Productive Without Losing Your Mind
Does geometry, shape your time?
Until fairly recently, I thought that Isoceles was a person, but no, it is not. Not only does that prove that we can always learn something new, it more than likely proves that I was not paying attention in class that day.
Of course, the triangle man was Pythagoras (circa 570 - 495BC). What I like about Pythagoras is that he was a contrarian and that not one single detail of his early life is unquestioned by historians. What is not contradicted is his theorem, that the area of the square whose side is the hypotenuse (the side opposite the right angle) is equal to the sum of the areas of the squares on the other two sides.
Another prominent person who loved a triangle was Nobel Peace prize winner and humanitarian Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu who asked the question,
“Have you seen a symphony orchestra? There is a person at the back carrying a triangle. Now and again the conductor will point to him or her and that person will play "ting." That might seem so insignificant, but in the conception of the composer something irreplaceable would be lost to the total beauty of the symphony if that "ting" did not happen".
Triangles whether large or tiny have a huge influence on our lives that we almost always fail to appreciate. Triangles are everywhere and what triangles offer us is support.
A single triangle receives compression from the top and the tension is on the bottom or base.
It is accepted that a triangle cannot be distorted by stress. A number of triangles in a series is how truss bridges are constructed and they give the bridge(s) a stable form capable of supporting considerable external loads over a large span.
We use triangles in organisational charts and I suspect that many managers or budding managers were imagining how the Collingwood coaching panel would have looked like in org. chart form. Without actually belonging to this group, how would you have perceived what the groups structure was. You may have even placed yourself in this group.
It is my opinion that every orgnisation, whatever the purpose of that organisation, requires a ordered structure. If an ordered structure does not exist, those at the near top of the structure use their perceptions, usually highlighting themselves, as to how the structure exists. If for no other reason and at the very minimum, you must develop an informal structure for the purpose of effective communications. If it is possible and you have the level of seniority required, you should attempt (and achieve) to have a formal structure installed.
The most common structural hierarchy that we are all a part of is the family unit.
The business structural hierarchy is based on the family structure.
The family structure is basically the same everywhere. In its simplest form it works well.
Every person in the structure is knowledgeable about their place in the structure.
When we get to a business structure, within the actual structure there is not that much difference to the family structure. Those with more experience, seniority or responsibility sit on the top. Conversely the less experienced, younger and possibly with zero responsibility sit at the bottom.
There is a saying that was literally taken by some and that saying was that,
“children should be seen and not heard”
This saying was most often used to reprimand children who showed “disrespect” by trying to interfere in a conversation between adults. It was also used to slightly reprimand parents who allowed their children to be present during adult conversations particularly conversations deem inappropriate for children to hear.
In practice, the meaning generally was taken that children are allowed to be present during adult conversations but should not partake in the conversation unless they are specifically ask to contribute. One child being asked a question did not give open approval for other children to contribute.
When looking at the business or company structure, let’s imagine for now that if this was also the family structure, that,
The General Manager is your parents.
The Department Heads are you (in the middle) with you brother to the left of you and your sister to the right of you.
The Section Heads are your and your siblings children and you each have three children.
Both the family and company structure will be shaped like triangles.
Rather, the traditional company structure or hierarchy is a triangle. And like our truss bridge, the compression called instructions (maybe orders) come from the top or the Executive. The tension (demand) is placed upon the base, the workers.
The parents (General Manager) in this structure will talk to their children (Department Heads) as a group or individually.
The parents in this structure, now Grand parents (General Manager) can talk directly to their grand children (Section Heads) but it is unlikely, or unwise to, issue direct instructions to the grand children (Section Heads) without first alerting or talking to the parents (Department Heads)
The siblings will talk between themselves and if they have a question for the Uncle and/or their siblings father, they will ask the appropriate sibling, their peer, to ask the question to their parent.
This is the correct method of conducting successful and respectful communications.
As we noted previously, people and as a result of people, sub-groups were joined together by jigsaw pieces with their blanks and interjambs. The blanks and interjambs are located on the sides of the pieces, the run side to side and top to bottom. There no connecting pieces on the corners so to use our previous description of the blanks and interjambs representing mouth and ears, communication should not be passed downwards and very rarely upwards on a diagonal basis.
Communication should take place from the blanks and interjambs and NOT from the corners.
Communication is side to side and top to bottom and bottom to top.
Communication is not diagonal.
To use an example from the organisation structure previously shown, the Operations Manager should not be giving instruction to,
Inventory Manager, the Accounting Manager or the Financial Planning Manager.
This applies to all Managers.
Returning to the family unit, you would not abide it if your brother or sister was giving instructions directly to your children. If it is unacceptable in the family structure, why would anyone consider it acceptable in business?
Not only is it discourteous but managers cannot manage if they are not aware of what duties their people are performing for others.
It creates disharmony amongst peer to peer management.
Empowerment
CEO’s, company owners and people at other senior levels can (and do) give instruction(s) to whoever they want and sometimes for no other reason is the that person is the closest person to hand. Busyness through inappropriate tasks being carried out by the incorrect person occurs. Chaos can follow.
One of the topics that Senior Management must have and make a decision about, and also reiterate on a regular basis, is to empower their employee’s to act in one of three ways
Politely say NO with an explanation as to why they are saying NO to the person giving the instruction.
Advise the boss giving the instruction that that is not their role but they will pass the information to whoevers task it is.
Take on the project/task AFTER reporting it to and getting the permission from their immediate supervisor.
Additionally, this person should be have the right to ask for clarification (in writing) of the given task.
Even if it is the correct person that has been given the instruction, that person must feel comfortable that they can ask for written clarification of the task given. Ambiguous tasks are often given by bosses/owners assuming that everone person has as much knowledge and understanding as they themselves do.
Once again, correct and clear communication is vital to success. We always want to have all employees have “buy in” to having the company succeed. If they feel that they are being given unclear instructions or misplaced instructions, people will feel less motivated to succeed.
If employee’s feel that they are not allowed to contribute suggestions that they feel may improve the companies performance they will become less motivated to succeed. Employee’s who are confident enough to make suggestions are also smart enough to know that not all, or indeed any, of the suggestions will be implemented within the business. It is the feeling that they are being respected as a person who will be at least listened to that motivates and achieves “buy in”.
Again, the blanks and interjambs that connect people are representations of mouths and ears.
As we get toward the base of our hierarchical structure the same type of communication channels should stay the same. As managers, we should always encourage full tiers of workers to have their say. At the worker level, their say will more likely be conveyed by their immediate supervisor or even by a Union representative.
Your workers are participating in Gemba every day. The “place where it happens” is the place they know best. Do not let any intellectual snobbery that you may not be even aware of clouds you feelings towards those carrying out the work, FOR YOU.
At all levels, but importantly when listening to the workers, either directly or indirectly through the communication channels, the best policy that everyone should be well aware of is,
“when you come to me with a problem, I also expect to hear your proposed solution”.
As we travel further down the hierarchical structure, the greater the chance is that we will discover cultural diversity whether that diversity is educational, where someone was born or raised or simply that greater opportunities were available to some, we must make sure that everyone feels comfortable making a contributon to the companies improvement.
All too often, diversity is viewed as being in conflict with performance; something that leaders will get around to once they’ve decided who will contribute to discussions and who will not. However, the evidence that the diversity of ideas improves communications (and performance) is overwhelming.
Those unwilling to contribute or unwilling to consider a change of viewpoint are spectators. Businesses require participants not spectators.
Advantages of our triangle shaped hierarchy
The triangle shape provides us and our work force with many benefits. The effectiveness of the triangle makes our company become productive and not busy (busy wasting time). Further, it will help management measure employee satisfaction.
Clear Career Paths
Advancement Opportunities: Employees can easily identify their potential career path within the organization.
Motivation and Morale: Being aware of the rungs where to step on the career ladder can bolster employee motivation and productivity.
HR Clarity: The Human Resource section can design a scale of compensation that helps with the above points but also assists with annual payroll budgeting. It will also allow HR to advise potential recruits what the payment is for the role for which they are being spoken to about.
Company Loyalty
Team Cohesion: Employees often develop strong attachments to the company, this promotes teamwork and collaboration.
Shared Goals: A clear structure will allows departments and the company in its entirety to align individual and sectional objectives with the overall goals of the company.
Our final point above may remind of the success story we visited, the successful Collingwood football team of 2023. However, lets not get too carried away with our business comparing itself with a successful sporting team.
I would suggest that it is rare indeed that all members of a business management team would have the same goal as a sporting team and this is to be expected.
A sporting teams goals are seasonal events
There will always be an employee who is using their current position merely as a stepping stone to a better position, usually elsewhere.
The efforts of a business team have the efforts rewarded in different ways. A business teams best efforts create the most reward for the owner or shareholders of the business.
Some people are not going to more productive, work longer hours or contribute fully if they are minimally rewarded for their day to day contributions or are not rewarded at all for efforts over and above their contracted agreement. You cannot change human nature. A contract is contained within the 4 corners of the paper it is written on. Flexibility is a two way street.
A flatter Structure
Holacracy: A less centralised organisational and management system through which decision-making takes place democratically and flatly through management teams within the the hierarchy as desribed above.
I will not spend too much time on these flatter structures as I believe that they do not work well in the long term.
It is my opinion that while they may achieve some purpose early on after implementation,
The Dartboard Structure