Make Things Easy and Your Staff Will Do More

“Management is the art of making problems so interesting that everyone wants to get to work and deal with them.” ~Paul Hawken

“The business schools reward difficult complex behavior more than simple behavior, but simple behavior is more effective.” ~Warren Buffett

Given the choice between accomplishing a task in a complex way or an easy way, most people will choose the easy way (there are some who like a challenge for the sake of it). When faced with a difficult task or an easy task, they usually choose the easy task. Your employees are no different, and if you look at their workflow you’ll find the truth in this. Great managers make things easier for their people:

• They create and/or enhance tools
• They remove steps
• They remove uncertainty
• They provide clear direction

What are the results of making it easier for your staff to do their work? If you make things easier for your team, they are likely to:

Get more done — Their productivity increases as easy tasks replace difficult ones.

Need less oversight — As mentioned in the title, they’ll be apt to be more self-motivated.

Have less errors — Since easy tasks leave less room for error than difficult and complicated tasks.

Get a morale boost — As they are likely to enjoy all of the above.

I could go into greater detail, but that could complicate things. So the question to you is this: Which of your team’s tasks can you make easier for them to accomplish today? Now get to it!