These days, while mulling about creating value, I wondered if there’s really a point to doing something that nobody would take time to appreciate, value, and use.
Morten T. Hansen, author of Great at Work: How Top Performers Do Less, Work Better, and Achieve More, presented the traditional productivity equation this way:
A person’s work productivity = output of work / hours of input
Based on the traditional productivity equation, this is the example he provided:
Charles can transcribe 60 words per minute from an audio file, while Beatrice can manage 120 words per minute. She’s twice as productive.
Then, Hansen introduced another productivity equation which emphasizes value:
The value of a person’s work = Benefits to others × quality × efficiency
In the new productivity equation, Hansen writes:
It’s no longer an issue of how many words of text you can transcribe, but rather how beneficial that transcription is to others. Maybe the transcript isn’t necessary in the first place. If the benefit is zero, the value is zero (that’s why there is a multiplication sign in the equation, because total value goes to zero if the benefit equals zero). It doesn’t matter how fast you type out a document if nobody reads it.
Have you ever done something just so you could check it off your list? Have you convinced yourself that being busy and getting things done is the point of your work? Or Did you do what you did because you know you are making a social impact?