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Posted by on Aug 4, 2012 in Business, Leadership, Return On Morale | 8 comments

Stop Doing More with Less

I want to obliterate the phrase “doing more with less” from managers’ communications.

Set aside the fact the hackneyed phrase has lost its meaning. You can cue the synchronized rolling of the eyeballs from every employee as the words escape the manager’s lips.

It’s a thoughtless phrase that covers up the real truth: “I have no idea what to do about the shortage of people and the piles of work. So, I’ll gloss over the truth and recite this meaningless cliche.”

The truth covered up, however, offers a solution to managers.

Instead of relying on rote messaging, tell the truth. The truth is the way you work today has to change. Throwing people at a broken system only gets you broken spirits, frustration, and unmotivated employees. More people is rarely the sole solution.

Invite employees to find ways to change the way work is done to reflect the nature in which work is created.

Yes, you will face resistance. But you’re already dealing with resistance, aren’t you?
Overcoming the resistance will invigorate you and your team.

Doing more with less is a cop out preventing you from finding new or different ways to create value for your customers.

Graphic by Shawn Murphy

Shawn Murphy (104 Posts)

Change Leader | Speaker | Writer Owner and principal consultant at Achieved Strategies. Co-founder of Switch and Shift. Passionately explores the space where business & humanity intersect. Promoter of workplace optimism. Believes work can be a source of joy. Top ranked on Huffington Post and HR Examiner.


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  • http://www.christopheravery.com Christopher Avery

    Hi Shawn, while I TOTALLY agree that the phrase has become insidious, I recommend reading Dr. R. Buckminister Fuller on the role of humanity on the planet. He referred to us as more-with-lessers. He said that since we never learn less — a phrase truly worth comprehending — then the amount of applied knowledge on the planet is always and ever increasing. That means the ability to add value is always and ever increasing.

    I think the message of Ferris’s “Four Hour Work Week” is an analogous. How much stuff are we doing everyday at work in order to account for our time? What if we truly prioritized value against effort and choose to focus on just the top 1%, 10% or 25%? How much more inventive might we be?

    So I say don’t give up on “Do more with less.” Just give up on the demand to do more for the company on the backs of the people.

    To your freedom, power, and choice my friend.

    • http://www.switchandshift.com Shawn Murphy

      Hi Christopher,
      Found your comment in our spam. I like the “we can never learn less” phrase. My immediate thought about the phrase is that we can cripple our learning or forget what we learned, but short of some physiological occurrence, we typically don’t unlearn. But I’m not sure that I agree with that. Will need to think it through a little further.

      Something is missing for me to totally grasp the connection of more-with-lessers to the unending ability to add value. I do, however, believe that adding value is unending. The cycle of knowledge and progress help us innovate yielding new insights into value creation which in turn deepens our knowledge and continues progress. (Bit awkwardly written. Hopefully it’s clear enough.)

      My beef with the phrase “do more with less” is that it becomes a mantra evangelized by managers. Instead of inspiring employees to find new ways to create value despite lack of resources, it’s used to reinforce scarcity. It’s often fear based and rarely used to the advantage Dr. R Buckminister Fuller explains.

      You’ve definitely got me curious about Buckminister. I’ll have to check out his work.

      Thank you for continuously pushing me, us to look deeper into our beliefs. I appreciate you, my friend.
      Shawn

  • http://Davidkanigan.com David Kanigan

    Important and thoughtful post. Truth often is in short supply.

    • http://www.switchandshift.com Shawn Murphy

      David, unfortunately there is truth in what you say. Emily Dickson once said, “Trust is so rare it’s delightful to tell it.” If only more people realized the delight. But let it be delight with the intention to help not hinder.

  • http://www.liveitforward.com Kent Julian

    First off, this title grabbed my attention.

    Second, I appreciate your thoughts on how doing more with less is a cop out preventing us from finding new ways to create value for customers.

    Third, this post is so you, Shawn. Nice job!

    • http://www.switchandshift.com Shawn Murphy

      Hi Kent,
      Thank you, my friend, for making me smile. So appreciate the kind words.
      Shawn

  • http://www.ceoafterlife.com/ John Richard Bell

    Completely agree with Shaun’s sentiment. As he suggests, leaders can ask follows to find different/better ways to get the job done. I look at it differently. I think a leader should assess what is being done. Leaders need to ensure their followers focus on the things that really matter. This is the strategic approach that concentrates on doing right things over doing things right. Sure, you need both. But doing right things is strategic; doing things right is operational, From my personal experience, “doing less, better” is the winning ethic.

  • http://wbsllc.com Liz Weber

    Great article Shawn and so true. When I hear “Doing more with less” from my clients, I immediately ask them what they’ve done to evaluate if they still need to be doing so many of the things they used to? Which processes are still really valuable and providing value to the company and clients? Almost every time I get the deer-in-the-headlights stare: Evaluate why we do what we do???

    Just as “We’ve always done it this way” is a red light that something needs to change, so does the victimization phrase: Doing more with less….

    Thanks again Shawn. It’s always nice to learn from you.