Carey Smith on Speed or Perfection
What is the ideal balance between Speed and Perfection? The pressure is on more and more in regards to the need for speed. In the day and age of transportable information the use of speed should be something that benefits us all. Has it increased or decreased our productivity?
Currently I am working on implementing changes to our business because of new legislation that is coming into place over the next 4 weeks. One of the documents is an Independent Contractors Agreement which will be used across our company for our sales team. I am working with a legal person who I expect to ensure that this document is perfect (in the sense of the word being able to protect us), but I am also working to a timeline, and it brings forward the question of the need for speed but also for perfection.
Most of us will be aware that some companies build their business on speed, they even display it as one of their core offerings. Google is probably the best example of this, which can give you a return of over half a million searches in less than .3 of a second. Other businesses include McDonalds, who promote drive-thru service, drycleaners who will return your clothing in 60 minutes and courier companies who base their pricing on your need for speed.
When you think about bringing together speed and perfection it is in your skill of planning invariably perfection and speed both cost money and cost time. It is knowing what level of speed and perfection is required when doing a job but also more importantly when delegating a job. Do we give an overall deadline? How do we use words that define delegating speed or delegating perfection? In many instances productivity has slowed down because of the need for speed and outcomes end up being disappointing because more time should have been given at the planning stage.
The only people that can acheive speed and perfection are those that understand that there is a need to allocate both of these factors into outcome that we want to acheive.
Great point