On Time
Rich or poor, there is one thing that we all have in common - we each have only 24 hours per day. In fact, wealth and success often merely escalate the demands on time, leaving many seemingly successful people impoverished in this regard.
In the course of our work with clients to identify the unique and specific human drivers of their organizational performance, we always include an analysis of utilization of employees' time. (This is one of the 24 factors in our human capital management framework.) And, indeed, time almost universally emerges as a significant "problem."
But what our analysis also generally shows is that "time" itself is not really the problem - rather, it is typically a symptom of other problems, ranging from poor work processes to inadequate communication to work culture problems that inhibit cooperation. (In fact, our statistical analysis of our framework has shown that "time" is really not an independent factor that can be fully separated from others in the framework.)
So identifying and then addressing these varied underlying issues holds the only real promise of solving the time problem. Work/life balance programs are never going to get us there, and nor are stress or time management programs.
On the other hand, addressing an organization's poor work processes (or whatever's causing time issues in a given organization) will reduce the obvious costs associated with rising workplace stress. Simultaneously, it will drive improved business results (and, not insignificantly, help to make the time-impoverished a bit time-richer). |
Last Chance for Benchmarking in 2007
Wanted to participate in our previous free benchmarking offer but never got around to it? Good news - it's back by popular demand!
To receive a free, customized benchmarking report on how your organization's human capital maturity compares to others in our proprietary benchmarking database, just click here.
The offer is only open until August 24, 2007. This is the final time this year that the benchmarking system will be opened free to our newsletter subscribers.
It's a great way to start thinking about your 2008 initiatives. |