Efficient VS Effective...Why Most Efficient is NOT Most Engaged!

Ken Logan is Vice President of Information Technology in an organization that has three different and equally demanding tasks for the IT department: keep Wifi for 41,000 fans fast in every seat, keep the front office happy with fault free accounting and email systems, and make sure the ticketing system is always able to validate tickets at the gate on game night. His organization is the Major League Baseball San Francisco Giants team. Not coincidentally, it’s headquartered in one of the most tech savvy areas of the world.

Engaged is Effective.

When things break, as they sometimes do in any organization, executives face a decision of fixing them efficiently and quickly, or fixing them effectively. Ken and his team are most efficient (that is, the quickest) when they can focus on the fix without having to keep their internal customers informed on their progress. This “quickest” approach is not very effective because the panicked users of the system are in the dark. You can imagine those internal customers are wondering: is IT doing anything about my problem? Do they know how serious it is? When will it be fixed? At the same time, the IT team at the San Francisco Giants is certainly committed to getting systems up and running as soon as possible.

Ken learned long ago that providing great customer service is as important as getting the issue fixed. That means keeping customers informed on the fix and setting realistic expectations. It certainly would be quicker to ignore the customer and work on the problem but Ken defines timely updates and information part of the solution.

It’s the same situation many managers face in their own organizations. Sometimes it would appear quicker to “do it yourself.” The mantra “if you want it done right, do it yourself” may apply sometimes but it’s no way to manage. Part of the job of a manager is to develop the capabilities of the organization, and that means delegating to others and allowing them to learn and grow. Managers who keep information, problems and opportunities to themselves may be efficient; we would argue they are not effective.

Engagement Questions to Consider:

• When do you do things yourself and when do you assign them?
• Is keeping your internal customers informed part of metric measurement?
• How does the team you work with balance efficiency versus effectiveness?
• Are there unintended consequences from focusing on efficiency and metrics versus being effective?