Results, Not Effort

I'm noticing a growing problem in the workplace today. More and more people are defending their value based on how "hard" they are working - as if the amount of effort they expend means anything.

Those who know me know that I value hard work (I have no patience for laziness - in thought OR deed!), but working a lot and accomplishing little is moronic.

There, I said it.

If a logger works hard, spending all day trying to cut down a big tree with a penknife when they could be using a chainsaw, do we applaud their effort? Of course not. We call him foolish! Loggers are valued by how many trees they cut down. The amount of time or effort they spend doesn't add any additional value. It simply isn't relevant to the outcome.

The weird thing about human nature is that we tend to judge others by their results while we judge ourselves by our intent. [Enter loud buzzer sound here.] Sorry. This doesn't (and will never) be acceptable to any logical, fair-minded person.

The measuring criteria is results. Period.

In the real world, we earn value by creating it. Effort and time are things that are spent. Hopefully, our energy and time is invested in a way that creates more value than we used. If not, we chose poorly. If so, then we are growing our resources and influence - and benefit because of that.

Value is defined by the one "purchasing" the outcome - whether an employer or the recipient of the effort. An employee who can create ten quality widgets an hour (regardless of effort) will always be worth more than someone who creates less. If you are exerting more time/effort than others on a particular activity and producing less, rethink your approach. Either learn do be more effective or switch to something that is more aligned with your personal strengths.

Spending more time and effort defending your lack of results is, well, an additional waste of time and effort...because it will not result in a better result. It just sounds like whining (definition of whining = "anger coming out of too small a hole." Ha!)

Think about it. But more importantly, do something about it...today!