Beware a Culture of Busyness

It’s time to turn in that badge of honor: Busyness!

 Beware the Culture of Busyness is an insightful article from the Harvard Business Review that delves into the evolution of busyness, its downsides and suggestions for becoming more productive in less time.

Although busyness has become a status symbol, research is showing the many negative effects of time poverty in the workplace.

We hear a lot about time poverty from our clients at fullCIRCLE. In fact, one of the first observations made by our clients following their experience is the effectiveness of slowing down in order to be more productive.

As a courageous leader, how willing are you to reimagine your leadership approach and turn in your “I’m Busy” badge?

Let’s have a conversation about developing your team through life-changing, off-site, ground-based, guided leadership experiences with horses.

Beware a Culture of Busyness
Organizations must stop conflating activity with achievement

Adam Waytz | Harvard Business Review | March–April 2023

Summary

Once upon a time, leisure was a sign of prestige. Today that idea has been turned on its head, and busyness is the new status symbol. Busy people are considered important and impressive, and employees are rewarded for showing how “hard” they’re working. Such thinking is misguided. It can cause organizations to overload their employees, base their incentives on the amount of time they put in, and excessively monitor their activities, all of which undermine productivity and efficiency, research shows. Meanwhile, reducing work to manageable levels can actually enhance them.

This article explores both the downsides of busyness (employee turnover, reduced engagement, absenteeism, and impaired health) and the reasons for our obsession with it. It’s partly human nature: The harder we work to achieve something, the more we value it; most of us hate being idle; and we think customers like to see us busy. The authors also present strategies for breaking away from this fixation: Reward output, not activity. Eliminate low-value work to make time for “deep work.” Force people off the clock, and allow time for their minds to wander creatively. Model the right behavior, and build slack into your systems.

Activity is not achievement, and the sooner companies recognize that, the better off they and their employees will be.