Eliminate this word from your vocabulary!

Posted on September 26, 2023 by Dustin Dale, One of Thousands of Business Coaches on Noomii.

Before you read this week’s newsletter, please take a moment to check your surroundings and put down all the “busy” things you are doing… I promise they will be there after reading this, but really, I hope this letter helps you eliminate some.
Let’s Go!

There is an insurance commercial that talks about becoming your parents, and it highlights all of the quirky things our parents did… dad jokes, mom’s extreme couponing, awkward conversations in an elevator with strangers, and packing snack bags for long lines. The list goes on and on…
There is some truth to these commercials, and even in my life, I noticed those I grew up with who would find “busy” things to do. My grandfather was the king of taking the simple task of tightening a leg on a chair, and then a few hours later, he made a whole new table with chairs. He liked to stay busy.
Who in your life do you know that likes to stay busy? Have you ever told yourself, “I will never be that way,” only to find yourself that way… It’s okay. We have been there, and some of us are currently there. But let’s take the conversation to the workplace.
What about employees who are busy? Have you ever noticed your peers who seem to work many hours but don’t seem to accomplish much? Maybe you have done some reflection on your own work and notice you work the hours but sometimes come up short.
Let’s go one level deeper and ask about your leader. Does your leader seem busy but does not accomplish much? Maybe you are at the executive level as we speak, and you notice that your leaders do not hit the desired outcomes.
The big question… WHY? Maybe they are “busy.”
The definition of the word BUSY; “Having a great deal to do.” (Google Dictionary)
When you study that short sentence and look at what being busy means, there is one thing I’d like to call out. It does not state the word PRODUCTIVE. It simply states that one has a great deal to do. A great deal of what? A great deal of tasks, calls, meetings, chores, etc.
Why the focus on the definition?
When a company asks me to come in and observe the culture, observe the team, and observe the leaders, often I use this definition as my beginning point in asking the question…
Are they busy, or are they productive?
Often, I observe and take notes by asking these questions as well.
What is it that they are doing?
What is the result if they complete it?
Where is the source in which assigned this “thing” to be done?
Does it play a small/large role in their overall success?
What is at risk of this “thing” not being completed on time?
These questions allow me to follow a plan of attack when it comes time to the conversation/feedback evaluation with whomever.
When it comes to winning in life, and winning in business there are those who have mastered the elimination of “busy” and learn to think in terms of productivity. Those who design customer facing applications, or design the software for employees to handle customers typically design the infrastructure around this concept…
If you have ever owned a Apple phone, then you will see this example firsthand by way of the phone design. When you turn on an iPhone you just look at the icon and know what it is. They realized that the busy work needed in informing the consumer of the icons cost too much time, resources, and brand power. They kept the idea of “productive” first and focused on the aspects that mattered most… Ease of product use by the end user.
But we must realize that this all starts way, way, way before the end product, system, or structure of an organization is seen. It starts with the leaderships mission, and vision. It starts with the fact that the leaders of the company understand, and acknowledge that if they do not focus correctly, then their employees will end up doing a lot of busy work… not leading to productive results.
I recall one situation where I was talking with an employee who was working on reports (admin) functions, and they had hanging up a sheet with everything listed out and the days these reports were due. It was a long list. I asked them what would happen if they missed a report, or became behind on the project timeline?
They responded that half of the items on the sheet had been eliminated by the company, but yet they still sent out the same sheet with no updates and told us to complete these check list items.
BINGO! Leadership not having a clue about the work they are creating in which led to this employee being busy.
Going further into the conversation I asked how they were supposed to complete the items if they were eliminated? They responded that the software was still active and so they simply uploaded what was requested.
I made it a point to ask again, “So, you upload these reports even though no one will check it? Why do you do that?”
Their response said it all… “Why bother bringing it up- I use to enjoy what I do but now I get paid for uploading these reports and if they don’t matter then that is on the leadership team.”
End conversation.
This is the cost of “busy” work and not aligning all levels of leaders on the mission, and vision of the companies’ goals. When organizations become very large and begin to have 5-7 levels of leadership do we see this happen the most. The information cascaded down becomes muddy, and the message becomes unclear which leads to employees doing busy work.
How can companies ensure accuracy in not providing busy work? Begin with these questions…
(1) What do we want to accomplish?
(2) What/Who do we need to accomplish this specific idea?
(3) What level of leadership will be involved; what expectation is the follow-up on timelines? What is the best communication plan?
(4) What must we “remove” to “gain” and think back to the outdated information the employee was uploading. Clean up your systems year to year to ensure no band with is going to waste.
(5) What current idea/concepts are employees working on? How will this align with those timelines? -the goal on this one is to eliminate projects that will overload employee’s ability to give 100%
These beginning questions can be a great starting point, providing clarity when it comes to rollouts, or large-scale transitions. It will also serve the day-to-day functions as to what employees should be accomplishing.
Sometimes the glorification of being “busy” actually takes away the end result of being productive. Eliminate what does not matter and learn to refocus on the important pieces of the business to ensure teams are being productive.
Employees need and strive to feel the work they produce has value, and when a company begins to devalue the work then the employee will begin to devalue their effort. This often leads to those “silent killers” in the company, and this mindset can take a high performing employee to a discouraged and disengaged employee.
Alignment in tasks, concepts, and designs will lead to stronger implementation and allow employees to focus on productive efforts instead of being busy.
Eliminate the word, “BUSY” from your vocabulary!