"We always seem to have enough money to fix a problem,

and we never have enough money to prevent one.”  - Unknown

Stress is now the number one factor for employee absenteeism. Stress is also cited as one of the top three factors regarding: divorce, depression, financial calamity, addiction, lethargy and chronic pain. Reduced work-force numbers, lean management practices, and the overall state of the union are contributing to companies needing to re-think their Working Hard Paradigm. Right now, EFFICIENCY needs to be King, but we humans still seem to be holding on to the past called Working Hard. And we are tired.

Companies want employees to either create revenue or reduce costs. Either way, more now than ever, the bottom line is money. Cash flow. At the very least, breaking even and keeping the doors open and the staff employed. Someday, we will once again experience our working environments from a more gentle, peaceful place, but right now, we need to focus on the financials. There are many ways to help companies create revenue and reduce costs, and integrity, long-term thinking, effective systems, and actual leadership need to be considered.

Information and expertise available on this topic are abundant, and yet companies and their employees are still not allowing their everyday work practices to morph into a more efficient structure. We still copy too many people on emails, invite too many people to meetings, include too many agenda items which are not relevant, and spend too much time wasting our precious resources with ineffective and inefficient systems. Instead we have become addicted to the rush of putting out fires, because in  many cases there were no workable systems in the first place!

Sound familiar? Three of my clients right now are in new positions at new companies. They are trying to navigate their way into the chaos of the new cultures and inefficiencies of their new work environments. And they are not happy. They are grateful for the work they now have, but are deeply concerned that their companies are going to tank because of a lack of organization and procedures, with an abundance of unhappy and confused co-workers. The ambiguity and consequent lack of clear expectations are tangible, and they report that nobody seems to know how to fix it. Inspired by their stories, we offer these seven points to consider for creating more clarity, efficiency and ultimately, less stressed out work environments!

Seven Points to Consider for Creating Clarity at Work

ONE: Systems clarity is worth the short-term pain for the long-term joy: create systems, processes and procedures, and then document them. Too many companies have their best ideas inside someone’s head. Spend the time and resources on getting your systems organized and in writing. Keep each process to one page each, no matter how complex it is. People tend to space out after one page. If you really need more pages, then keep each item categorized and formatted to fit one page. The best information is succinct.

TWO: Setting up clear expectations, goals and targets can be expensive. What do you explicitly expect from your staff, your managers, your company, your clients, your vendors, your outsourced professionals? Write it down, document this and make sure that everyone knows what this is. If you are a consensus-style company, you can create a simple 10-question survey and get valuable feedback first. Spend the money. No, really... spend the money. If you don't have it, there is probably someone at your company who has this talent for documentation.

THREE: Transparency is the new black! And scary for many old-school companies who still believe that information is given out as medals of power. Let the information flow. Tell your staff, teams, managers, and vendors how you are doing. You don’t have to get into numerical detail, but an overview via checking in and letting people know your state of the union is very useful. This actually creates the kind of knowledge that people can use to become more efficient. For example: share with your staff that you would like to make meetings more efficient. Get their ideas via a 5-question survey. Take the top five most applicable suggestions and implement them into the next meetings. Share with your staff what was not working before and what is functioning better now. Encourage this kind of Efficiency Ideas Forum to flourish.

FOUR: Authentically talk about your company, the daily operations, the people in it. Do what is known as Walk-Arounds with the key people in your company and ask for a Walk-Around from your Managers. Make sure that everyone is connected to the main targets and that what is said is done and what is done is clearly understood. Take the time to set up processes at the front end. If you don’t get the buy in from the team, either you are not being authentic and credible, or there are bottlenecks and glitches in your system and the people who are in it, or… both. Everyone already knows what’s working and what’s not working. Never underestimate the power of what people already know. If your expectations are clear, high, and achievable,  people will jump on board.

FIVE: Professionally and respectfully confront and reward behaviors. This is key. If this does not happen, then no amount of training, coaching, influencing or negotiating will help. The negative and positive of work environments – whether this entails the people, processes, practices or plans – need to be addressed. If this is too difficult for you, then hire someone to help. If you tend to avoid the positives and/or negatives of your work environment, then you might not be a good fit for the company. And if you own the company, you might be "play-acting" at business, and not taking it seriously enough. Sad to say, this is all too common.

SIX: How might you, personally, be wasting time, money and resources? We are all too eager to talk about those “difficult people” out there. What can you do today, this week, this month, this year to create more efficiency in the workplace? If you find yourself resisting this suggestion, then you might have a resistance to change - or your company does - and you have perhaps given up. And if the company tanks, you are also a part of its demise. Give up the blame game for a week, take out a mirror and see what happens. Personal responsibility is at the core of positive and intelligent change.

SEVEN: Integrity is when our thoughts, feelings, words and actions are in alignment. Are yours in alignment? How can you make them more so, and would this create more efficiency and clarity at work? And can you professionally model this and in turn, encourage others to follow this level of integrity as well? What might you be able to say and do, to help those around you get inspired to create this, too? If this kind of integrity is present at your workplace at least 75% of the time, you will probably be a part of creating less stress, more fluid communication, and ultimately more clarity and accountability around you. Does this sound impossible? Talk to the people at Ben and Jerry's or Google or Levi Strauss. These companies are not prefect, but they are examples of this kind of excellence.

Ready to make a difference? You are on your way.