Subtle Forms of Waste

 

It is always surprising to me when I hear people say, “Oh we don’t have any problems around here.” Or they can’t think of any ways they could improve their operations.  I know from personal experience and from the research over many years that the average person wastes 30 percent of his/her work time.  And it is not just the time spent taking personal calls or answering personal emails.  I have finally concluded that people just don’t recognize it for what it is.

 

In fact in the executive ranks, most individuals think that is what their job is – fixing things that didn’t go right the first time.  Beyond that, almost everyone I talk to complains about not having enough time.  But we generally have, or at least take enough, time to redo things that could have been done better.

 

Some waste is straight forward and obvious. But some waste, although very important, is just not as tangible, immediate, or readily apparent.  Below are some examples that you may encounter.

 

1. Ineffectively leaving messages on answering machines.

 

2. Waiting for decisions

 

3. Setting up meetings

 

4. Hiring the wrong person

 

5. Forgetting appointments

 

6. Not listening well

 

7. Not following up promptly, if ever, on messages left or emails received

 

8. Poor training of new employees

 

9. Illegible handwriting

 

10. Meetings starting late

 

11. Poor filing system for paper as well as computer files

 

12. Replacing something after it broke rather than just before it broke

 

13. Miss directed mail or phone calls

 

14. Finding excuses

 

15. Laying blame

 

16. Unclear directions

 

17. Meetings without agendas

 

18. Forgetting something you need

 

19. Making more than one trip when, if prepared, you could have taken care of several things on the same trip

 

20. Forgetting names

 

21. Failing to backup computer files

 

22. Not taking advantage of all the brains and experience in the room

 

23. One ups-man-ship

 

24. Dishonesty

 

25. Lack of trust

 

26. Unpredictable processes and people

 

27. Secretiveness

 

28. Poor budgets and budget processes

 

29. Performance appraisals

 

30. Not communicating the vision and plan to everyone.

 

31. Buying based only on the lowest price not the total cost

 

32. Fear

 

33. Retaining employees when they are in the wrong job

 

34. Ineffective and unnecessary policies

 

35. Demanding change

 

36. Putting off decisions until later

 

37. Not prioritizing tasks to be done and/or procrastinating

 

 

Most of us can identify with many of the items on the list.  Some are subtler than others.  Think about your workday.  How many of these do you encounter routinely?  What items would you add to the list?  Some items we can do something about and some we cannot.  There is an opportunity here.  Things don’t have to be this way.  Make yourself a checklist of these and any other personal favorites.  I challenge you to keep track of your experience for a week.  Then go to work on improving the items that get the most checkmarks. Save some of that 30% of wasted time for your organization and yourself.