In the day to day operation of a business, at times you may find that there are tasks that need to be done that aren’t complicated but they are necessary. You may be inclined to push through them quickly without much thought, planning or care. We encourage you to be sure that you aren’t carrying a lazy man’s load, meaning you pile these tasks on and hurriedly go about accomplishing them haphazardly in a rush to get them done.

As a high school student, I helped my grandparents replace furniture in their home. So I overloaded myself with furniture and staggered out to put it down and then come back in with the new pieces. My grandad took me aside and said, “You are carrying a lazy man’s load”. While carrying all this stuff is certainly getting the job done, you may hurt yourself trying to carry too much, and odds are that you’ll fall over and break things or make marks on the wall. He convinced me if I would carry less, I may have to make more trips, but the work would be more enjoyable, easier and more effective.

We find that this example to be true in teams and people in business as well. They are carrying a lazy man’s load. They are working hard not smart. While you may respect the effort and there may be a flurry of activity, but some of it may be unnecessary and not efficient. As business conditions shift, we are forced to do more with less and you may not notice this type of issue or feel compelled to address it.

Some questions to consider:

• Have you properly evaluated the work load of your team and the efficiency of their performance?

• Are the right people with the right skill sets doing the right jobs in your organization?

• How are you coaching your team to work smart, not hard?

If your organization is struggling with your team and need help getting your team to work smarter and contact our expert guides at 800-786-4332 or email CClemmer@AppliedVisionWorks.com. It only takes 30 minutes to get started!