Effectiveness vs. Efficiency

By: Jason Kerchner Click author's name for more of his/her articles

What does it cost you to be efficient? Efficiency doesn't cost anything you anything, right? Efficiency SAVES money, all business owners know that. However, being efficient can also lead to procrastination.

Procrastination will LOSE a business money, and will grind your business to a halt (if it ever gets started in the first place). And this is why the effectiveness vs. efficiency is vital to your success.

Some will spend endless amounts of time planning and writing procedures. They want to make sure they know exactly what they’re doing BEFORE they begin. They want all contingencies to be planned for from the start. So they analyze. They graph. They outline. They rewrite. They fine-tune.

But they never get started.

Because they want it to be perfect when they finally do get started.

In the contest of effectiveness vs. efficiency, they want everything to be efficient. Flawless.

So they keep planning.

It’s a great ideal to shoot for. Imagine if you could start a business or project and know exactly everything that will happen from the start. No lost money. No wasted time. You would have an incredible advantage for success.

But there are several problems with this tactic.

1. You can never know for certain how something will turn out. Are all the plans you’ve made REALLY going to turn out as expected? Some planning is necessary, but what happens if your plans are not as efficient as you thought?

2. Trying to be absolutely efficient right from the beginning is often a sign that some fear is blocking you. WHY do you want to be efficient? Is it so you won’t anger your customers or leads? Is it so you won’t waste money? Is it because you’re afraid people will think you’re stupid if things aren’t perfect? Look carefully, what is it that you are afraid of. Then ask yourself if that fear is really something that should prevent you from getting started right away.

3. Efficiency is a PROCESS. That means you work it continually, and it does not end. You don’t write sales copy, throw it up on a web page, and assume it will work brilliantly. You don’t put a system in place, follow it exactly and call it done. Things change. Technology changes. Markets change. New opportunities will demand more of your time. What was efficient yesterday may not be so efficient today. You might learn new ways to become more efficient.
There is certainly no reason to begin with efficiency. In fact, it is the most INEFFICIENT way to begin!

The question of effectiveness vs. efficiency really comes down to timing. You must be EFFECTIVE FIRST.

Effective means that you are getting stuff done. One way or another. Being efficient can come later.

Make your initial plans pretty quickly. Do your due diligence, but then begin the work immediately. Then pay attention to what is happening as you work. Track data so that you can recognize areas for improvement. Write down your procedures so you can analyze them.

Efficiency doesn’t come from theories or from what you THINK will work. It won't come just from planning. It comes from FEEDBACK. And you won’t have any of that if you’re not doing any work!

Make no mistake, efficiency is vital.

But you have to get started FIRST!