After I entered the workforce, I bear in mind attempting to look always accessible to my bosses. It was the peak of hustle tradition, again when phrases like “I’ll sleep once I’m lifeless” truly sounded cool. Prioritizing work above all else felt like a prerequisite for climbing the company ladder. It was additionally a fast-track to burnout.
Now, because the CEO of my very own firm, I admire when staff and candidates are sincere about their boundaries. To me, it indicators a well-rounded one who is extra prone to thrive and stick round. I’m extra excited by how they assume, whether or not they’re solution-oriented, and what sort of power they create to the group.
For a very long time, placing in additional hours was the unstated rule for proving your dedication to your job. However that’s altering. Immediately’s office more and more values outcomes over hours. The “always-on” period is giving strategy to one thing very totally different. Staff are prioritizing a holistic sense of well-being, and I believe that’s a optimistic shift for people and organizations alike. Right here’s why.
Wanting busy doesn’t equal productiveness
The “rocks, pebbles, and sand” metaphor is a helpful strategy to rethink how we measure productivity, for ourselves and for our groups. The rocks are the priorities: the high-impact duties that encourage staff and energize them. For me, the rocks are writing and strategizing how one can simplify our customers’ lives via automation. The sand, however, is the low-value busywork—these draining duties that litter the day with out shifting the needle. Suppose: expense reviews, invoicing, pointless conferences, or chasing standing updates.
It’s simpler than ever to fill our calendars with sand and persuade ourselves we’re being productive. However when our groups are overloaded with the trivial—the sand—there’s no room left for significant work.
Leaders are tasked with defending time for the rocks, in our personal schedules and throughout organizations. Which means setting an instance about clearly and often outlining priorities, encouraging staff to streamline or eradicate busywork, and valuing outcomes over hours. Simply because somebody continues to be on-line at 6:30 p.m. doesn’t imply they’re being efficient. And simply because somebody has to chop out early doesn’t imply they haven’t had a productive day.
Create a tradition that values deep and sensible work, and also you’ll see not solely higher outcomes but additionally extra energized staff.
Specializing in outcomes encourages effectivity
Constraints typically spark creativity. Deadlines, for instance, power us to determine probably the most environment friendly strategy to get one thing finished. When you’ve ever pulled off a last-minute challenge underneath the gun and shocked your self with how shortly you completed it, the facility of time stress. You may need even thought afterward: If solely I may at all times work with that sort of momentum.
Against this, when organizations concentrate on hours labored, with face-time necessities and mandating that staff be “on” for a sure variety of hours every day, duties are likely to develop to fill the time accessible. That’s the antithesis of true productiveness.
Think about regulation companies, the place purchasers are billed by the hour. Attorneys should monitor each minute of their day. Those that work shortly and effectively are sometimes penalized, with fewer hours to invoice. It’s a system that rewards time spent over worth delivered.
When leaders shift the main focus to outcomes, staff are naturally motivated to work smarter, not longer. This requires setting clear expectations for what success seems to be like on a challenge or process, past simply the time spent.
As Georgia Dawson, senior accomplice at world regulation agency Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, puts it: “It might be very best for the business if we will begin to transfer towards extra of a concentrate on outputs and the worth that’s being delivered by legal professionals. That helps a drive towards effectivity, a drive towards using know-how, and it will probably assist to assist a greater concentrate on psychological well being, well-being, and variety within the career as nicely.”
The identical logic applies past regulation. Consequence-oriented environments result in smarter work, higher instruments, and more healthy groups.
An output-focused tradition resonates with Gen Z
Latest research from Deloitte reveals that youthful generations, particularly Gen Z, extremely worth flexibility in when, the place, and the way they work. However many aren’t experiencing that flexibility in follow. As a substitute, they report excessive ranges of hysteria about work-life stability, with lengthy hours being a big contributor to that stress.
Adopting a extra outcome-focused method helps bridge that hole. When staff are trusted to ship outcomes somewhat than log hours, they achieve the autonomy to construction their schedules round their lives. That flexibility helps larger ranges of well-being, stronger efficiency, and boosted engagement. It creates the sort of work ambiance that youthful staff gravitate towards.
I’ve seen firsthand how Gen Z thrives with extra flexibility, and it advantages our firm too. They’re tech-savvy and automation-minded. Give them a objective, they usually’ll typically discover sooner, smarter methods to attain it. When leaders concentrate on outcomes as a substitute of hours, they unlock that productiveness potential.
