Improving Your Department's “Gas-Mileage”

In “Built To Last” the authors dedicate a chapter to the topic “The Tyranny of the OR”. They describe several examples, where we traditionally see two involved aspects as competing with each other. Make money OR fulfill a purpose, do well in the short term OR focus on long term objectives.
They observed, that “visionary companies” do not succumb to this view-point, but find a way to “embrace the genius of the AND”. For example, such companies do not try to find a balance between “purpose beyond profit” on the one hand, and “pragmatic pursuit of profit” on the other; they do both. As another example they mention that visionary companies strive to do well in the short term AND do well in the long term.

I think Honda accomplished this goal – to embrace the genius of the AND – too, with their V6 engine, which they use in the Accord-V6 and the Odyssey: They improved the gas-mileage AND increased the power of these cars!
The principle is quite interesting: During regular cruising only three of the six cylinders fire. When there's a little more power needed, a fourth cylinder gets added, and only when full power is required, all six cylinders are active. The switching between the modes is virtually unnoticeable by the driver.

Well, here's an idea for team-leaders, managers, and executives: you can rig your department in a similar fashion as Honda's V6 engine!

You have three types of staff:

• The traditional employee type. That is the equivalent of the three cylinders that keep the department at cruising speed.

The “fourth cylinder” type, who you can quickly engage and disengage, to meet typical workload fluctuations. This would be part-time employees, who are helping with month-end, year-end, busy-season, and at other semi-regular high-demand times. 
The idea here is, that the person would be part-time per year, not per day. That means, during crunch-time such an employee might work 60 hours in a week. And at slow season the person might be completely off for days or weeks. But overall she/he would be employed for, say 1000 hours per year, instead of the typical 1760 hours.

Finally, the “fifth and sixth cylinder” type, who would provide the power to tackle bigger projects – implementing a project that's outside or in addition to the regular work, system conversions, modernizations, and so on. 
Usually, these are contractors. A contractor in the traditional sense, however, is like a secondary engine, and not part of the regular engine. However, just like the cylinders are a normal part of the single engine, such a contributor should be a normal part of the single team.

In essence I am suggesting to look at the folks who help accomplish your goals, from a different perspective. All those who are contributing to achieve your goals are part of the team!

• It is irrelevant how somebody is compensated. That is a minor side-issue that pay-roll has to worry about. What matters is how much the person costs. Also, cost per hour is irrelevant. What matters is cost per production-point. Similar as with electricity: voltage by itself doesn't mean much; neither does amperage by itself. A generator's capacity is measured in Watts (i.e. voltage times amperage per time). In terms of a contributor the formula could be time to get something done times cost per hour.
• It is irrelevant whether somebody works 20, 40, or 60 hours per week, as much as it is irrelevant whether somebody is in the office every day, or only on some days. What matters is how much overall production-points of a person cost. Somebody waiting for work, or artificially prolonging the existing work so it doesn't get too boring, is not adding to the team's productivity, but still produces costs.
• To you, who wants to achieve a goal, the only aspect of importance is: how to get your goal accomplished with the least amount of unnecessary overhead.
• A person who is part of the team knows the environment, the team, the processes, and the goal. Such a person hits the ground running, an does not need as much ramp-up time as a new person would need.

Sure, the V6 is spending some effort carrying the additional cylinders around, even when they are disengaged. And there is some fancy technology needed, to make the transitions smooth and effortless. Similarly, some additional, mostly administrative, costs incur for the non-traditional members on your team, even while they are not engaged. And your department's operation, your leadership style and management methods require some new, non-traditional approaches to maximize the contribution of your additional power-reserves.
However, the benefit is clear: excellent overall gas-mileage AND the strength and fluidity required to deal with fluctuating workload and the constant, fast-paced changes of todays world.

So here's my question to you:

Are you GM or Honda?

Are you stuck in old ways, in denial about the changing world, and hoping for a government bailout when the time comes? Or, are you nimble, innovative and adaptable enough to shape the new times, ready to pioneer new technologies and approaches, and will you emerge from this crisis as a leader?

(J. Collins, J. Porras; Built To Last – Successful Habits of Visionary Companies; HarperBusiness; 1 edition (November 2, 2004); ISBN-13: 978-0060566104)

This crisis – A wormhole to the future! Are you ready?

I am free to do whatever I feel like doing. So, if it rains, I can choose to stomp my foot, and complain bitterly, that I am getting wet, and that I can't do what I would do if it was sunny. I can also choose to just put on my rain coat, and go about my business. And, I could choose to feel happy about the beautiful balance in this world, how the plants are now getting the moisture they need, that the roads are being washed clean from all the dust and dirt, and that I now can anticipate the next sunny day as a great present, one more gift in this paradise we live in.
The situation is always the same. Nothing changes. Only the attitude towards it is different. Guess, which attitude would make me feel most miserable, and which would make me feel most at ease and happy?
This worldwide crisis is just like rain – something I can not change. Again, the only thing I can change is my attitude towards it. So I can complain, and wail in my suffering. Or I can just continue to go about my business, as good as I can, given the restraints put on me. Or, I can make it something really positive. 
Well, I am a glutton for feeling good, so I decided to try to find a way to make this crisis work for me.
“Necessity is the mother of invention”, they say. “War is the father of all things.” observes another saying. In other words, crises tend to trigger development, change. Alright, so how can I change, what can I learn through the crisis?
First, I was forced to be more careful, more selective about what to spend my money on. And, after a while I realized, that I can get by with quite little. An interesting side-observation was, that once I stopped buying things, I didn't really miss them anyhow. My home is much less cluttered, too. And, when I go away, it is much easier, as I have less things, less ballast to carry with me.
This by itself is already a great lesson, and well worth it suffering a bit. “A bit!?!” you might scream. Well, yes. I noticed some friends, who amassed more material possessions have a much harder time with it. They have mortgages, car-notes, cable-bills, contracts with landscapers, and country-clubs. All in all, what they are used to costs a lot of money. And they don't want to give it up. Ah, here we go again. They “don't want” to. That's the equivalent of stomping my foot and complaining that it's raining. Well, it is everybody's own choice how to react to any situation, and how to react to this crisis... And, by the way, as much as it is everybody's own choice with what attitude they meet the crisis, it is also everybody's own choice to find a lesson they can learn, and a way they can grow through the crisis.
I noticed another great insight, that could be learned from this experience: Since I do not need that much money anymore, I do not need to spend that much time working just for the money. I could work part-time, maybe a day or two per week, or maybe one week a month, or two months a year. The rest of my time I could spend on what makes me feel happy and fulfilled! Some of us are in the lucky position to be working in a profession that provides purpose and meaning for them. For others, their job is a bit more of a chore. But this again is also a question of attitude. In any case, just close your eyes, and imagine you would work two days a week. What would you do with the five days that you are off? How would that impact your emotional state, your stress-level, your energy-level?
There is one problem, though, with wanting to work less. There are hardly any jobs out there, where such a schedule would be acceptable by the employer.
To me, this is a chicken or egg problem: what comes first – the jobs offered, or the people looking for them? I think, the more people are realizing that their life is not just about paid work, and the more of them are asking for short-schedule jobs, the more likely it is that employers start looking at this option. There are disadvantages for the employer – instead of having 25 full-time employees, they would need 100 short-time employees. That is added administrative effort, and potentially a problem with continuity and communication. There are laws and insurance regulations, and so on. However, there are also significant advantages for the employer: A person that is working 50 weeks a year will sooner or later get tired, sometimes even feel burnt-out. A person that is working only one week at a time, with a three week break afterward, is more likely to be full of energy, ideas and inspiration while at work. Their productivity per hour is most likely much higher.
The advantage for our world, however would be gigantic! Just imagine, if suddenly we wouldn't spend all of our time and energy just to make more money, but instead spend it to make a contribution. Instead of corporate and personal greed being the driver for the economy and the development of this world, it would be our wish to make a difference.
Of course, those of us lucky enough to find fulfillment and purpose in our jobs most likely would continue to spend more time at our job. However, the unnecessary pressure would be gone, and we could do what we do for the sole reason that we believe it is a good thing and we want to do it.
During my four years in Tobago, there was nobody telling me what to do, how much to do, when to start, when to stop. Still, I was working longer hours then, than in any other job before. I did what I did out of my own “inspired” motivation. I felt it was important, it was my self-declared, self-decided mission.
So I know out of my own experience, how much more I can get done, when I am not pressured, not forced, but inspired and self-motivated. Multiplying this onto the rest of the world's population – Man! We could have war, hunger and loneliness eliminated in a jiffy! We could have this planet cleaned up, and Global Warming addressed in no time! And we all could be happy and live a fulfilled life. Oh what a wonderful world this would be...
All that's necessary is the will to make it so, the open-mindedness to try something new, and the decision to change our attitude!