It’s Simple: Less is More
How much of your day do you spend explaining ideas to “middle men”, sitting through meetings that end with no actions, answering the same question for the 10th time, clicking though trivial work-flows, or waiting on another rubber stamp reviewer? If only we could eliminate all the non-essential from our work day, imagine how that day would go? You may leave the office 2 hours early rather than 2 hours late.
Over the last few months, I have been embracing a philosophy of minimalism in my personal life gradually stripping away personal possessions and time sinks that I do not consider to be absolutely essential to me or my family. I started down this path after watching documentary by Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus, creators of The Minimalist. The pair define minimalism as: “a tool to rid yourself of life’s excess in favor of focusing on what’s important — so you can find happiness, fulfillment, and freedom”. The more surprising insight from this experience has been how transferrable this mentality is to the work environment. It’s a mentality which can be embraced from the smallest start-up to the largest Fortune 500 Company.
I would brand it as follows: “Organizational Minimalism is a tool to rid yourself of a bureaucratic waste in favor of focusing on what’s important — so you can achieve agility, simplicity, and sustainability.” What makes Organizational Minimalism different? It’s a mantra that people can embrace daily. You’re not trying to apply a tactical toolset like LEAN, Six Sigma, or Agile; it’s about igniting a culture change. I see the below core values as the foundation of applying minimalism to the work environment:
Core Values
1) Minimalism is a commitment to eliminating non-critical activities and focusing on only most important of the remaining activities.
2) Minimalism is a belief that by having less, everything we do needs to count for more, and therefore we seek the most creative ways create more with less.
3) Minimalism is about giving an individual ownership and accountability for all aspects of their daily activities.
4) Minimalism is a belief in ensuring the organization is utilizing the most efficient processes and the most effective tools to generate value.
5) Minimalism is about listening, observing, thinking, and speaking deliberately and with purpose.
I started this article with the next section including traits of an individual who applies the principles of minimalism. Three weeks later, I decided to rewrite it because you don’t need specific traits to become a minimalist.
*Deleted Section — Minimalist Traits*
My Realization:
You only need to be committed eliminating the non-essentials and a few ideas to get you started.
So here are some to get you thinking:
Since when does everything need a checker, a reviewer (or two…), and an approver.
When did accountability and ownership go out the window. Did I miss something? Gone are the days when you could point to a single individual and say: “Yep, you own it, you better get it right, because there is no one else to blame.”
Cut meaningless or glamor metrics.
Do we really need spend time pouring through dozens of metrics and presentations? Nope, most of it is meaningless so “Keep it Simple”. I would stick to three to four metrics based on exceptionally clean data and with a tool that allows sufficient granularity to take deep dives if needed. Also, if you have any metrics that you review just to say: “Look how awesome we are doing!” SMH.
Delete inefficient or duplicate software programs and processes.
It’s amazing how many people in the same team use multiple different software programs to execute the same tasks. One has to be the most efficient, so down select and figure it out. A simple example is having multiple web-browsers: Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, etc. Seriously, if you have to have multiple web browsers to do your job, IT has failed you.
Eliminate meetings or at least cut the invite lists.
If you host a regular meeting and you have dozens of invitees, please consider how much time and money you are wasting. “I am sure at least a few people on that invite can be removed to save the business $$.” — Sincerely, Finance.
Spend time to remove yourself from email distributions.
It’s amazing how many emails I get and wonder, why am I on this distribution? I have found it worthwhile to track those down and have myself removed. Sometime I even respond to the @DoNotReply email: “Please remove me from the distribution and I will no longer reply. Thank You.” In the long run, you will save yourself time by not having to review hundreds of worthless emails.
These are just a few ideas to get you started. Remember, the goal is to simplify your work day to the bare essentials which deliver outcomes for your customers. Try being thriftier, eliminating waste, taking more risks, and delivering results with purpose. If you do, you might get home a little bit earlier everyday while delivering the same quality for your customers.
Is a Minimalist Transformation what your company needs?
If you want to learn more about minimalism, I recommend you check out the following:
http://www.theminimalists.com/minimalism/
Minimalism Documentary on Netflix
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg Mckeown in Audio book
If you have other recommendations, feel free to share. Send me an email or comment.
