The Distraction Index

The creeping problem of administrative BS, committees, teams, projects and three-letter management programs all seemed important and necessary when they were initiated. And individually, each of these programs or activities appears important and valuable. However, as organizations get older and more successful, they see the need for more and more of this stuff that was just not necessary in the early lean years. There was no time to have a three-day planning meeting or to form Lean Six Sigma teams. You were too busy making money. As organizations grow they also need more administration and are subject to increased regulation. This also seems important and necessary to avoid lawsuits and regulatory issues. The problem is that all this stuff takes up an increasing portion of people’s calendars, and makes work more frustrating to them. It gets to the point in some organizations that there is little time do to what the people were hired to do in the first place.

The problem in most companies is that no one has any data or facts, only strong opinions and perceptions that too much time is being spent on these activities. Some might suggest that a study be done to determine the extent of the problem, but a study is a one-time event. It might lead to a temporary reduction in these programs or activities, but it would be short-lived. What is needed is an ongoing performance measure that leaders can track every week and month. You can start constructing this metric by brainstorming the types of activities that take people away from doing their jobs. You’ll quickly end up with several pages of programs, meetings, teams and activities. Some are annual events and others are ongoing time commitments. It can be helpful to group the like items together into the following three categories to track:

  1. Job: Activities directly associated with your job and why you were hired. Preparing financial reports, reviewing contracts, making a presentation to a prospective client, de-bugging software, delivering a training program, creating a marketing strategy, or whatever the main function of your job is.
  2. Administration: Activities that all organizations need to spend some time on, including budgeting, contracting/procurement, recruiting/hiring, attending compliance/regulatory training, participating in audits or certification activities, sales or project review meetings, learning about new policies or software.
  3. Programs: Management or improvement programs that tend to have three-letter acronyms such as BSC, ABC, MBO, CRM, EPM, ERP, BPI, etc. These programs might also include generic training programs that everyone is forced to attend or motivational events that never really seem to have any impact.
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