"So are the ants..."

I finished my last post ("The longer you stay...the longer you stay") with a great quote by Henry David Thoreau: "It is not enough to be busy; so are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?"  It seems that many, if not most, of organizations today are operating with the management mindset that "more is better" :  If you want maximum results, you should put forth maximum effort.  But is that really true?  Is there evidence to support that statement?

As it turns out, maybe "maximum effort" doesn't always turn into the "maximum results".  Greg McKeown wrote a nice article for the online Harvard Business Review, "To build a top performing team, ask for 85% effort" and suggests a better formula, "optimal effort = maximum results".  Counterintuitively, less effort can actually lead to greater success!  He talks about something known as the "85% rule".  The "85% rule" is about "consistency, pacing, and finishing" and is well known in the field of sports performance.  Carl Lewis, one of the greatest Track and Field athletes of all-time was known as a "slow starter" and "great finisher" - he would push himself hard, but only to 85%.  Just look at how effortlessly the Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt blows away the rest of the competition.  Look out how relaxed he really is - is he putting forth 100% effort?  Not really.  He's putting forth optimal effort.  

The same is true when it comes to performance outside of athletics.  We do better when we engage with our optimal effort, not our maximal effort.  If we push ourselves too hard and for too long, we paradoxically end up performing worse.  And if we continue to push ourselves in that manner, we will burn ourselves out.

McKeown provides a number of suggestions for leaders to build high-performing teams without burning them out (by following the "85% rule"):

1.  Create a "done for the day" time:  I love this recommendation!  When possible, leaders should establish a "done for the day" time that their teams should follow, unless there is an emergency.  McKeown writes, "When managers are ambiguous about the length of workdays, they risk introducing decision fatigue, diminishing returns, or even getting negative returns from their employees."  Remember, "the longer you stay...the longer you stay."  McKeown tells a story of a a new employee at a private equity firm who was eager to make a good impression by staying late.  His manager saw him working past the "done for the day" time and asked, "Why are you still here?  We don't stay late here unless there is an absolute emergency.  We want you to be fresh tomorrow morning. Please go home."

2.  Ask for a little less than maximum capacity: In other words, apply the "85% rule" in your organization.  There is a very well-known concept in exercise and rehabilitation called "perceived exertion".  Essentially, "perceived exertion" is how hard you think your body is working, which as it turns out, is fairly accurate.  For example, if the "perceived exertion" is on a scale of 1 (lowest level of exertion) and 10 (maximum level of exertion), individuals should be targeting a score of between 8 to 9 most of the time.  

3.  Ask "how am I making your work more stressful than it needs to be?": Sometimes, just asking the members of your team what you, as their leader, are doing to cause more stress and anxiety can be very enlightening.  For example, I've always been one to check and respond to emails at the end of the day or on weekends.  What kind of message does that send to my team?  Even if I tell them that I don't expect for them to follow my lead, they usually do, because they think that I expect them to respond to me.  McKeown mentions a study by investigators at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, which found that 1 in 5 workers is highly engaged but having high burnout too.  In other words, these highly motivated, enthusiastic workers who were passionate about their work were also experiencing significant burnout - higher even than unengaged workers.  More importantly, these workers were the most likely to leave the organization!  Again, "optimal effort=maximum results".

4.  Encourage 85% right decisions: We don't need to make a perfect decision all the time.  Most leaders, myself included, tend to be perfectionists.  We are all afraid of making mistakes.  McKeown again mentions a study about adaptive and maladaptive perfectionists.  Research by Brian Swider, Dana Harari, Amy Breidenthal, and Laurens Bujold Steel (see "The Pros and cons of perfectionism, according to research" in Harvard Business Review) distinguish between excellence-seeking perfectionism and failure-avoiding perfectionism.  The former describes individuals who hold high standards for themselves and others, while the latter describes individuals who continually worry that their work is not sufficient or adequate.  Swider and colleagues also recognize that there are positive aspects to perfectionism, as well as negative ones.  The positive effects are stronger for those excellence-seeking perfectionists, while the negative effects are stronger in the failure-avoiding perfectionists.  Perhaps the best way to take advantage of the positive effects and mitigate the negative ones is to encourage "85% right" decisions.

5.  Watch-out for high-pressure language: Avoid the use of high-pressure terms such as "Urgent", "ASAP", or "Need" in email or text communications.  I would also add "Gentle Reminder" to this list.  McKeown suggests fostering open communication about genuine deadlines, the rationale behind these deadlines, and the potential trade-offs that can or should be made.  

6.  End meetings 10 minutes early: See my previous post ("Has technology really improved our lives?") about the intriguing results of the Microsoft Human Factors Lab's study on the use of breaks between virtual meetings.  

7.  Set your own intensity to 85%: Building upon the point made above about email and text communication after hours or on the weekends, leaders need to model the right behaviors when it comes to the 85% effort and work-life integration.  Surprisingly, as I mentioned in a previous post that mentions the book, Chimpanzee Politics by Frans de Waal, we can learn a lot about group politics and behavior by observing primate groups.  Researchers in a classic study found that baboons look to their alpha male (the "boss" of the group, if you will) every 20-30 seconds to see what he is doing.  In other words, the rest of the baboons in the group model the behavior of the alpha male.  Leaders in all organizations are always "on display" - what they say and do matters.

McKeown writes, "Despite some companies' attempts, we can't fix today's burnout culture with a wellness app.  What it takes, is a mindset and culture shift among managers and organizations everywhere."  Applying the "85% rule" would be a great step in the right direction.