How Getting 50% Can Feel Like Getting 100% – And Double Your Team’s Effectiveness

by Dr. Brian J. Mistler

March 31st, 2007

My colleagues and I have noticed – over the course of the last 17 years or so – that many leaders ask their employees to give “110%” while very frequently only getting back about 20-30% of their potential.  What is going on here, and what can be done about it?  We think we have a pretty good answer to this all-too-common problem; one that may surprise you at first.  Let’s begin the answer by talking about organizational excellence.

Organizational excellence is often correlated with the health (both physical and psychological) of the individuals that make up the organization. According to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (Bol. 295, N0. 17, pages 2037-2045), organizational cultural factors may be as important as drinking, smoking, and other of these common known dangers in determining individual health risks.

Indeed, an article in the April issue of the Monitor, a publication of the American Psychological Association suggests that though Americans spend 2.5 more times on health care, we’re still sicker than the British when it comes to diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, heart attack, stroke, lung disease and cancer.  These individual health issues certainly effect long-term organizational effectiveness in a variety of ways.

Moreover, it also seems according to Dir Michael Marmot, PhD, of the University College London that being rich doesn’t really protect anyone from the health risks discussed above. So, if the normal ways of explaining why we are putting our health at risk (”to make more money”) don’t stand up, what’s the answer here?

A solution to this dilemma often evades us. The American Psychological Association article discussed above, and countless others in the research literature on this topic, point to an important core cause for poor individual (and, thus, organizational) health – too much unnecessary stress. It’s no secret Americans work harder – often more than 50 or even 60 hours a week – than, for example, Europeans do.  In fact, we spend so much of our time working that we don’t often have time for satisfying leisure, family responsibilities, or enjoyment of life in general.

The profound irony of this continues to strike me, as we often defend the importance of all our work in helping us get enough money to provide for our families, to secure health care, and in general increase our quality of life. What if all this work isn’t doing that however? What if it’s actually HARMING our families, our health AND our quality of life?

A recent study conducted by our firm with several of America’s top leaders found that while leaders scored predictably high in a number of areas, they often scored significantly lower in identification and pursuit of their most meaningful goals, and in the ability to find quality leisure time. To read more about this study, click here.

What can we do about this?  The answer may surprise you! All of this seem to confirm what I’ve been telling friends and clients for years – don’t give (or expect others to give you) “100%”, it will kill you (technically, the act of TRULY giving all that you have does, in fact, kill you – if you have nothing left to give you will die).  Instead, I recommend you give (and ask for) 50% – and give it in relation to only the most important things in you organization.  Before you click away from this article in disgust, read on to find out how this approach can actually help you and your team to double effectiveness and efficiency levels.

If you are successful in “getting 50%” from your team, you will, in reality, get about double of what most people normally give (remember, the average person seems to give about 20-30% of their potential; even in the face of – and in some cases because of – being asked to give the impossible: 100-110%).  In addition to doubling effectiveness, you’ll also be more satisfied with your life and live longer.

I can say this with confidence for a number of reasons. It should be clear to you from the research I’ve discussed above how dangerous over-working can be to your psychological and physical health (please feel free to post comments below this article for our readers if you’ve got other direct links related to this research) . Indeed, if you’re reading this, and you’re one of the millions out there who are successful, but struggling with diabetes, heart attacks, meaningful connections with loved ones, etc. (or have family and friends who are), this fact is probably already quite clear to you.

What may not be clear, (judging from the comments I get most often from ambitious business leaders when I talk about ”giving 50%” initially), is how giving 50% can actually help increase productivity. The case is overwhelming, and our interventions constantly confirm it. In short, the reason I want your employees to give 50% is because so many of them are giving 20% right now… and, spending 80% of their time figuring out how not to give more.

Or, worse, or at least equally as bad, they’re spending their time dealing with frantic problems, that always appear urgent, and almost never devoting time to their most important, meaningful goals. These meaningful goals may be time spent helping the business grow, pursuing personal/professional growth, or exploring the next billion dollar idea. It may be that you don’t have time to focus on your company’s mission – that critical vision that will make you money and help the world – because you’re so busy with day-to-day stress related to not developing and executing the goals that will help you fulfill your mission in the most effective and efficient ways.

What can we do about all of this?

1. Finding a systematic way to track goals that includes IMPORTANCE ratings is one of the first keys.
2. The next is including all of your important goals in that system. All of them — including ones related to balance. Creativity happens in the moments of rest very often — and these moments are underrated.
3. Spend less time worrying and more time boosting health.  We often spend a lot of energy without accomplish anything.  Helping yourself and your employees with exercise programs, therapeutic and coaching programs, and short breaks can actually improve productivity by reducing stress. The body under stress undergoes a number of profound physiological changes, including increasing the tunnel vision that leads to frantic behavior and lack of vision.

Imagine being able to do more, live longer, be more relaxed, make more money. All while spending less time fighting with people to do their job and more time leading your organization in the areas you’re passionate about.  If you have a mechanism for doing so, we say use it – and start now!  If you’d like to know more about our system for helping organizations become more excellent, check out the EBSS links and other articles on this site, subscribe to the RSS feed, or take a look at this article on overcoming barriers to quality execution.

This article was written with Brian Higley

Article Filed under: Business Excellence, Goal Achievement Weeds (Barriers), Personal Effectiveness