Effectiveness

Productivity Principle 4…

Effectiveness – the principle of doing ‘the right thing’.

"If you know what you're doing, efficiency is the only improvement opportunity" – david allen

Yes, 'IF'…

You see, effectiveness is more important than efficiency…

This table from page 72 of Marketing Due Diligence by Malcolm McDonald demonstrates the importance of effectiveness over efficiency:

McDonald explains:

…an understanding of the difference between strategy and tactics and their association with the relevant adjectives, 'effective' and 'efficient'. The table shows a matrix in which the horizontal axis represents strategy as a continuum from inefficient to efficient. Those firms with both an effective strategy and efficient tactics (box 1) continue to thrive.

Those with an effective strategy but inefficient tactics (box 2) merely survive.

Those firms with an ineffective strategy appear to the left of the matrix. Often, companies end up with an ineffective strategy because they place too much emphasis on tactics and fail to address the underlying strategic issues surrounding changing market needs.

Either way, such business are destined to die. The question is whether they will do so slowly or quickkky, and organizations doing the wrong things more efficiently (box 3) are detined to die more quickly than their less efficient counterparts (box 4). It is a bit like encouraging an incomepetent manager to work harder, thus doubling the amount of chaos and customer deissatisfaction he creates!

The table demonstrates the logic of such phrases as:

"Here you see, it takes all the running you can do to stay in the same place" – The Red Queen's speech from Through the Looking Glass

Being effective means producing powerful effects. Being efficient means producing results with little wasted effort.

Efficiency is how well you do something, and effectiveness is how useful it is.

Am I doing something that truly matters to me, or am I just being busy for the sake of it?

Effectiveness comes from taking the time to stop and evaluate, rather than running faster and faster.

Work smarter, not harder.

See Productivity Secret 3.

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