Are you too stuck in the "I don't know but I don't have time to learn!" dilemma?

In my last post I talked a bit about Digital Transformation and how the multi-faceted and extremely high-paced transformation that most of us are in the midst of right now, is rapidly increasing the need for us all to “work smarter”. To some of you, this is a bit of a cliché and something that some managers/leaders repeated more often than actually applicable, some 7-8 years back. It was one of those buzzwords that got abused to the point of ridiculousness.

So why am I dusting the old "work smarter" slogan off then?

Because today, more than ever, I actually think it is finally becoming a necessity and a game changer for every high performing individual to “work smarter”. I am not saying work faster, longer, harder, or more. I think we have reached the point where that is no longer an option. A bit like how Moore’s law has finally reached saturation and after decades of accelerating has now started to slow down.

In "To Social, or Not To Social?" I touched upon how productivity and efficiency improvements used to be all about optimizing processes and essentially cutting costs.  But as most companies are as lean as they’re ever going to get already, streamlining further isn’t really a viable option anymore. In the same way, working faster, more or harder really isn’t either. I think we may have reached saturation, or we are at least very close to reaching it, in terms of how an individual’s performance can be enhanced or stretched much farther.

“Collaboration is the new black” they say…

Sure, I buy that but, perhaps it isn’t quite that simple?  Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you are desperately looking for something, or desperately trying to figure something out, and you are under so much pressure that your brain starts shutting down and you keep adding more things to your plate?  You just don't have time, to ask someone to explain it to you - at least you feel like you don't have that time!

You are trying to juggle so many things and still meet all the deadlines, and most people can manage for a few days or weeks to keep up appearances, but eventually reality hits: you realize that you'll have to start resetting expectations, altering delivery dates, pushing milestones. Now you are starting to feel like you can catch your breath a little, as the pressure lightens up, but since you still haven't delivered anything, all you really have achieved is pushing things in front of you. The more stuff you push and the further out you push it, all the while new things are coming onto your plate, the worse and the heavier the load gets. It builds like a wave in front of you and it keeps getting heavier and heavier...

I call it "snow plow"-mode, courtesy of my Swedish heritage I guess.

Don't get stuck in the "I don't know but I don't have time to..." dilemma!

It is nothing but a vicious circle and the quicker you realise you're moving into that cycle, the quicker you can do something about it. You can "Get Help" . . .   the title of my next article.

PLEASE NOTE: The views and opinions expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.
 

​Rebecka Isaksson is a thought leader and influencer with 15+ years experience of successfully driving Change Management and Operational Excellence multi-year programs, internally and as Management Consultant for many multi-national and global Enterprise Customers.