30-60 minute talk

What you will hear and see:

Do you remember August 14, 2003? On that day about 50 million people in the USA and Canada had no electricity. The official investigation blamed the blackout on overgrown trees. But was that the cause or a nonsense symptom?

Managers are taught to think in terms of productivity and efficiency. The more you produce with less, the higher your productivity and your efficiency. However, ‘no electricity’ does not really show zero productivity. It simply highlights the huge contribution an energy utility makes to our quality of life.

I wonder what the linesmen would have done about the trees if they were taught to think in terms of contribution instead of productivity and efficiency.

This is why I say that organizations struggle and fail when they focus on productivity and efficiency at the expense of contribution and effectiveness.
 

The three main issues you will understand after participating:

• Why purpose always matters more than efficiency.

• Why organizations are good at efficiency but struggle with effectiveness.

• Why today organizations and teams had better be both efficient and effective.

And then you will know what to do about it when you get back to work.

© 2008 James Henry McIntosh - All rights reserved - Richmond, Virginia, USA - www.nonsenseatwork.com