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January 06, 2009

Is less the new more?

Talk about a bad start to the New Year: A colleague found out yesterday that, because of company-wide extreme cost cutting, his budget has been slashed to zero. (That’s right: zero.)

Luckily, no one was fired (yet), but my colleague still wonders how he can get everything done with such reduced resources. The trouble is, that although budgets have declined, management’s expectations and the organization’s needs are increasing.

I’ve been thinking about this problem a lot lately, and I’ll share some of my suggestions on how to get more accomplished with less time and money during a web workshop on January 21.

As a starting point, I’d like you to consider the following concept: Less may be the new more. Here’s what I mean. Most organizations have been increasing communication over the past decade or so: more web sites, more town hall meetings, more articles, more news, more choices, more volume.

But the current economic situation requires us to rethink that “more is more” approach (and just in time, too, because employees have been crying “uncle” for years, saying that there’s too much communication for them to manage).

So it’s time to accept the fact that you can’t continue to do everything, and embrace the new less. Here are three ways to start:

Go to fewer meetings. Yes, you like having a seat at the table, but how many meetings do you attend that are really just for your information, with no action needed as a result? Be more selective.

Adopt one question as your mantra: “What’s the objective?” When deciding whether to participate in a new project or support a new initiative, be the one who asks how the thing supports the company’s goals. If the thing is nice to do and not mission-critical, gracefully decline.

Use this as your opportunity to streamline the approval process. Say, “we need to move faster and be more efficient,” and recommend a new system. Now may be the first time in memory when you can make a case for change.

Got other ideas on living “less is more”? Please share them.

Posted by Alison Davis at January 6, 2009 03:44 PM