Step Away From the Web! - Brief Article

Training & Development, July, 2001 by Donna J. Abernathy

Simple Ain't Easy

Bill Jensen--author of Simplicity: The New Competitive Advantage in a World of More, Better, Faster--reminds us that making a job simpler is no easy task but it is necessary. He says, "Companies are horrific wasters of our time. Most employers and teammates--even the well-intentioned ones--make things far too complicated and actually make it hard to work smarter."

For example, Jensen says that about 80 percent of internal communications-- email, meetings, presentations, and the like--consist of sharing information that either doesn't require action or has no consequence for being ignored. "People--not programs, plans, or technologies--make the final choices about what to do and how to do it," he says. "Therefore, communication that is designed for decision making is the linchpin of business success. And the work behind it is a daily requirement for simplicity"