Work laundry. How to do more of the work we
love that makes a difference and get rid of the rubbish.
Introduction
All the people I have spoken to confirm that
that work is hectic and cluttered, with little time to think and plan. They often
feel overwhelmed by low value information. It is hard to concentrate on the
important things and sift out the high value information from the dross. They
often feel driven by work and systems rather than in charge of them. The pace
of change is increasing too, so even thinking and planning can seem futile,
because the ground keeps shifting.
Developments in technology have helped us do
things faster and cheaper. So now we are doing more things. Paradoxically,
people are now spending more time at work, and under more stress, than they did
before these labour saving devices were invented. This is crazy.
Human beings imagine and create
organisations the way they operate now. We can imagine and create organisations
where people take time to think together, where people only create and do work
that enriches and where they function at a growthful edge that is personally
rewarding and productive.
"Work laundry" is a way of thinking and a set of processes and activities that can help people in organisations concentrate on those activities that are most rewarding, life affirming, creative and contribute to the long-term well being of the firm and the wider society. Part of this is about getting rid of dross and avoiding making low value work for each other.
What might be involved?
Micro
initiatives
Ø
Creating
common understanding about the need to clarify the standards, effort and context
and reasons for a task before setting or accepting it.
Ø
Each
manager making space to think by delegating some important tasks and not doing
some unimportant ones.
Ø
Engaging
the vision and commitment of the top management to the process.
Ø
Having
fewer but more effective meetings. Using every meeting as an opportunity to
learn.
Ø
Improving
and simplifying systems so routine work is handled quickly and predictably.
Ø
Learning
from the successes you already have and celebrating them.
Ø
Making
space and time for people to talk to each other and think together about how to
create a truly wonderful and profitable place to work.
Ø
Raising
people's awareness about the work they make for each other. It costs almost
nothing to send e-mail to ten people, but it costs a lot for those people to
respond.
Macro initiatives
Ø
Creating
a thinking environment where people can work together to simplify the work they
do and make for each other. This could be within a team or teams or between
people and their key customers or suppliers (internal or external).
Ø
Developing
knowledge management processes so you can avoid duplication and mine the
knowledge and wisdom that already exists in the organisation.
Ø
Developing
trust and connectivity in the organisation, through team work and relationship
building, so people want to share what they know and help each other. They will
then be willing to say what they want and don't want from each other.
Ø
Getting
into a new habit of thinking about what we do, before we do it, while we do it
and after we do it, to maximising learning. Sharing our learning openly.
Ø
Identifying
and sharing best practice in teams, across the organisation and between
organisations.
Ø
Identifying
and shifting the fears and anxieties people may have about thinking about
themselves and the way they work with others. Helping them see the enormous
amount they have to gain by focusing their energy and the energy of others on
the work that gives the most value.
Ø
Searching
for the best way to make electronic communication a boon rather than a burden.
Experimenting with formats, lengths, conventions and labelling.
Who could this help?
Ø An individual would find ways to work more effectively and enjoyably. He or she would leave work at a reasonable time knowing he or she has achieved something of value.
Ø A manager working with her or his team would find ways to work more effectively and enjoyably together. By concentrating on the most significant work, they would experience great satisfaction and this would spread.
Ø An organisation that
was committed and active in this would be more profitable and more effective
than its competitors. It would attract and retain the best people and be a
supportive and educational place to work.
How could we proceed?
Every organisation and person is different
and has different needs and preferences. The approach would respond to this
reality. There could be some elements in an approach that might be quite
common.
First, we might establish that enough people
want to get rid of clutter and be more productive and sometimes get home on
time and that there is organisational energy to support investing time and
resources to do so. "Enough" people might be a few people with a
committed manager in the first instance. Most organisations have a process for
getting a new project approved; we could use that to gain organisational
commitment.
Second, we might seek examples and stories
from those people where they have already been very effective, enjoyed it,
learned a lot, concentrated their energy and created remarkable value. We could
do the same about successful ways of eliminating work. We could
"mine" these shared experiences for good practice and, because people
have thought about it, they would want to do more. This might be enough to
disperse people's doubts about engaging in the process.
Third, we could develop together, based on our work above, or find, a process for improving and refining the most important relationships that an individual, team or department has with its customers or suppliers. This process would allow us to focus on the highest added value activities. Having fun together could be one of those; the work laundry is not just for masochists.
Fourth, we could set up small internal groups to research some of the common time wasters like the e-mail burden and come up with simple practical ideas for reducing them. The same process could be used to simplify or eliminate internal systems, as these can be enormous time wasters. At least, we could look quickly to see if the cost of running them is more or less than the benefit they create.
Fifth, some or all of the above activities might link together in a workshop activity that could create energy because lots of people were working on these issues together in a supportive environment.
Finally, these activities will require soft skills like listening, facilitating, asking good questions, influencing, and working well in groups. These may have been covered in part in workshops on people development. The work laundry process (terrible name!) would be a good way of reinforcing and stretching these skills. Some people might want or need some additional training and development.
I have read two good books that may help with the whole of the process. These are "Time to think" by Nancy Kline and "Learning to Fly" by Chris Collinson and Geoff Parcell.
This note is an unfinished piece of work. It will raise more questions than it answers, especially about how we do it in practice. Writing it has helped me clarify my thinking to some extent. Any comments or additional thoughts are most welcome.
Using these materials
I am entirely happy for you to use or draw on any these materials in any way you think will be helpful. I am keen to have my work, and the work of the people I have learned from, used.
Please will you say where you found them? One way might be to give a link back to www.nickheap.co.uk or to info@nickheap.co.uk. This will help these positive ideas to spread, and help my business, too.
Thank you
Nick Heap