Technological Efficiencies Are Powerful—but So Are You

A few years ago, a physician friend of mine complained that some of his very educated and book-smart colleagues in the medical profession no longer knew how to think. He did not mean that his physician-friends were incompetent medical professionals; he meant that they had become too comfortable with the standard routines of a highly efficient and predictable medical practice. Modern medicine had made a physician’s work formulaic and as a result, these professionals had lost important skills. They were unaccustomed to thinking through and developing innovative solutions to tough medical questions or unusual health problems. This conversation took place a decade ago, but the lesson is still relevant— particularly in the digital age. Let me explain my point.

Just about every organization, corporation and individual on planet earth—even those located in the most remote geographic regions—have embraced some form of digital technology. There is no question that the many technological innovations of recent decades have benefitted humankind in multiple ways. Everything from AI’s astonishing data analytics to other applications designed to enhance collective and individual levels of productivity and efficiency can advance knowledge and improve quality of life in nearly all fields. But is it possible that an over-dependence on these technologies can also bring about a less than ideal situation? As remarkable as these tools are, they can’t help in every situation, nor should we be lulled into believing that they can.

Recently, I heard about a grocery store that had adopted use of a “digital task allocator”, designed to manage limited resources and create efficiencies within and between the various departments. The program worked well so long as events at the grocery unfolded in a predictable fashion. But when something unexpected occurred—unusually high demand for a specific product or contaminated food items—upheaval ensued. Small surprises—with big impacts—can trip up an organization overly dependent on technological solutions.

The truth is that we live in complicated times and unexpected events are increasingly common. We are being surprised by everything from global pandemics to climate disasters, to declining water supplies and regional wars. AI is excellent at crunching through data, finding patterns and offering predictive analytics. But it’s essentially a tool whose intelligent application depends heavily on human analysis and interpretation. It’s best to view our relationship with the latest tech as principally a partnership. Technological efficiencies play a role, but it is the human skills of creativity, collaboration and resourcefulness that helped us survive through the ages. Let’s not leave people out of the equation going forward and let’s not let efficiency metrics be the only goal that counts.

How do we prepare for the unknown? A city concerned about water scarcity develops multiple sources of water—from collected rainwater to conservation of existing supplies to cleaning and reusing the water that exists. This is not necessarily efficient, but it is an adaptive strategy that ensures options in the event of a crisis. What makes our institutions, businesses and communities “robust” and the most prepared? In an environment where a predictable forecast is unlikely, a laser-like focus on efficiency will undermine and erode our capacity to adapt and respond. Recall the physicians mentioned in the beginning of this article. A highly efficient and routine medical practice was not an ideal training ground for the crises that eventually showed up.

By working in partnership with—but not being dependent on—technological solutions, we are more resilient. We may not be necessarily the most efficient, but we are likely to be more prepared. Coalition-building, experimentation, creative and expansive thinking, this is the stuff that gives our organizations—and us—the strength and skill to handle the surprises that inevitably come along.

Let’s just be perfectly clear about one important point: We are not solely and unequivocally responsible for the people that we are today. We are the product of multiple factors that includes not only genetics, but also childhood upbringing, possibly birth order, cultural values and norms, and a lot more—all of which shaped us into the people we are in 2024.

So, when a researcher comes along like Elizabeth Wiseman, author of Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter, who outlines the characteristics of people who bring out the best in employees (“multipliers”) and contrasts them with the characteristics of people that bring employee productivity down (“diminishers”), her goal is not to make anyone feel bad. Her research represents a starting point from which we can glean important clues as to why some leaders excel and others struggle. What is to be gained when people in leadership positions tweak the quality of their interactions with employees? In a nutshell: A lot. According to Wiseman, leaders who act as multipliers realize 60 to 100% of their employees’ intelligence and capability. Diminishers, by contrast, typically realize only 40% of their team’s potential. Let’s look at Wiseman’s explanation for this performance gap in greater detail.

When that Mentor from Childhood—Is your Boss

Most of us probably remember some person from childhood—a teacher, a favorite uncle, a neighbor—who encouraged us, trusted us, and made us feel respected, confident and capable. This favorite person made us feel like we were more than just kids. In their eyes, we were talented and smart. We were encouraged to try new things and we were assured that we could do it. Truthfully, this person made us feel like we could reach the stars!

Not surprisingly, we still need certain basic levels of support once we transition to the workforce as adults. We need encouragement and trust from the leaders in our lives. This is why our most effective managers—our present-day “multipliers”—display many of the same behaviors as our childhood heroes. The “magic” worked then, and it still works now.

What sets a multiplier apart from other kinds of leaders? Above all, a multiplier communicates to each employee that he or she brings significant value to the organization. A multiplier is humble and ready to listen, recognizing that the significant knowledge and experience of each team member should be tapped and maximized. Responsibility—and credit— is shared. The skills and talents of each team member are acknowledged, and multipliers work to develop and sharpen these skill sets, giving employees the freedom to take risks and show initiative. Of course, a multiplier is NOT a pushover. Standards are high and will remain so—even if errors occur. The difference is that a multiplier, although a stickler for accountability, will support efforts to grow, learn from mistakes, and move forward.

Habits of a Chronic Diminisher

Now let’s consider a different type of manager. A diminisher, although surrounded by people with high levels of education and experience, typically underutilizes talent while being quick to criticize worthy efforts. A diminisher rarely listens to other’s ideas and presumes that only he or she knows what to do in most situations—even when surrounded with abundant skill, talent and experience. Stingy with time and generally suspicious of coworkers and their suggestions, a diminisher rarely gives credit to others for important work, often criticizing peers publicly. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to recognize that this sort of individual hardly inspires a team’s best work. Wiseman calls these leaders “tyrants” and “empire builders.” Enough said.

Almost a Multiplier

Are there people who have good intentions, but still don’t manage to inspire a team? Yes— Wiseman calls these people “accidental diminishers.” Here are a few representative behaviors: In their enthusiasm and zeal to kickstart a project, accidental diminishers share so many ideas that no one knows which direction to go in and chaos often ensues. Accidental diminishers don’t always organize their thoughts to allow work to progress. They may jump in without adequate planning or preparation. Similarly, they may step in too quickly to redirect and fix errors, discouraging the team from solving problems and trouble-shooting the issue themselves. Alternatively, the accidental diminisher may leave the team out of the decision-making and brain-storming process entirely—frustrating those who want to participate and share ideas.

Accidental diminishers are typically unaware of the effects of their behavior and don’t intend to negatively impact productivity. So, what do you need to do to turn things around and create a multiplier effect? Consider the following.

Turning it Around

As was pointed out in the introduction—and for a variety of reasons—many of us don’t grow up automatically knowing how to interact with others effectively. But we can always improve and learn to be better leaders. Wiseman’s insights are invaluable in this regard. She suggests, for example, that leaders not be too quick to offer answers but learn to ask better questions. Similarly, don’t be too quick to step in to fix a problem. Trust your team to come up with solutions and trust that the “home-grown” intelligence of your team—with important skills, experience and education to share—is more than up to the task. Also, be sure to give your team plenty of opportunities to challenge themselves. Empower them and then step back and watch your team take flight.

Well done! You now have one of the most important jobs out there, managing a team! This is an important position in a company because good managers—or the lack thereof—can make or break a business. If you succeed in your position and your team meets goals and fulfills expectations, you’ve succeeded with arguably one of the toughest jobs out there. Not many have what it takes—the secret sauce, if you will—but there’s more to being a good manager than just talent. Contrary to what some may think, few are born with it. Time, hard work, and discipline are required to get all the elements of the job right.

Different Focus, Different Skills

A managerial role often entails a marked shift from past work life. You are no longer focused exclusively on improving your own performance. Rather, your focus shifts to helping members of your team shine at theirs. This responsibility to support and manage your team requires you to develop a new set of skills. As a manager, you will spend a lot of time communicating, meeting with company leadership, mentoring, setting goals and identifying the strengths and skills of your team members. Did we mention communication? This is a big one. Learn to do it well because a lot depends on getting it right. In general, some of the most important skills you can bring to the table come together in a managerial role.

The Well-Respected Team Lead

As a leader within the organization, you are immediately held to an unspoken standard to act in a way befitting the title. A manager needs to set an example, step up to challenging circumstances and maintain order with a clear head and steady hand. Of course, you may mess up and make the occasional mistake. Go ahead and share your professional challenges with your team now and then; a little honest humility can make you a more empathetic manager—one who is working to improve personal performance just like everyone else on the team.

Nothing Useful About Ambiguity: Be Clear About Expectations

Your team needs to understand your expectations, which is why—again—communication is key. Be specific, be exact and be crystal clear about the high-quality work you expect and when you expect it. Project outcomes or directives delivered in confusing or excessively general terms can send a project off the rails in a heartbeat.

Beware the Evil Twin: Micromanagement

Early on, spend time reviewing standard work processes and procedures with your team. Keep in mind, however, that when you articulate desired outcomes for a specific project—ideally with plenty of detail—you are not dictating how to arrive at those outcomes. For a variety of reasons, you may want to get down in the weeds and take over some of your team’s work. Don’t do it. This is a sure-fire way to becoming a micromanager. Doing the work of your team communicates a lack of trust and stirs up bad feelings. Remind yourself that members of your team have different methods of getting the work done. Step aside and let them do it.

Caveat: But don’t become so detached (for fear of micromanaging) that you lose track of your team’s progress. As a manager, you always need to know what is going on, how a project is progressing and whether you’re on course to meet project goals. Obviously if you notice a problem or recurring pattern, you need to get involved ASAP. More on this below.

Strength in Diverse Skill Sets

Good managers know that people have different skill sets and different approaches to work—and life, for that matter. As one expert suggests, manage your team as if you were playing a thoughtful game of chess. As you may know, in chess the player learns to skillfully use the characteristics and unique strengths of each piece to execute a strategy. Familiarize yourself with the skills of your individual team members in a similar manner and consider different strengths as you assign work projects. Note how team performance changes in different circumstances and adjust accordingly. Appreciating unique skill sets can lead to success on multiple levels—both for individual team members who feel valued for their talents, and for the company’s overall mission as well.

The Value of Frequent Check-ins

A manager’s most important tool is honest and direct communication. If you’ve developed a good working relationship with each team member, your team will know that even if some criticism is communicated, it’s coming from a desire to help. Frequent check-ins are useful to swiftly address a problem or check project status, but these meetings are also a chance to get to know personalities and learn something about an employee’s professional goals. Always try to help members of your team develop new capabilities and grow in ways that are personally and professionally fulfilling. Bottom line: Guide and lead your team, but also cheer them on when they’ve triumphed.

Management is one of those skills that develops over time. You’re not expected to know everything at the beginning, but the more time you spend trouble-shooting the tough bits and working thoughtfully with people, you’ll eventually come out the wiser—and the organization you work for will benefit as well.

No matter who you are—or how “balanced and calm” you claim to be—at some level you are affected by stress. We all are. A universal human condition that shaped us through the ages, stress has served us well through time. At one time, stress triggered the energy needed to survive the dangers associated with life as nomadic hunters. Now, of course, the sources of stress are different: Today, financial and family worries, deadlines and workloads have the power to set our teeth on edge.

According to Arthur C. Brooks, faculty at Harvard Business School and Oprah Winfrey, a philanthropist and global media figure, in their book, “Build the Life You Want,” strategies to manage stress in the 21^st century are more important than ever. The authors point out that it is our inability to constructively manage—with a cool, rational head—the things we cannot change that leads to depression, drug addiction, alcohol abuse and other damaging coping behaviors. They propose revisiting a concept known as “metacognition”, which translates to “thinking about thinking”. By deliberately—and in a detached fashion—analyzing your patterns of behavior, you can change your course of action accordingly.

How to React to Stress “Triggers”

The authors note that emotions are triggered by a variety of circumstances—some which we can change, and others which we cannot. For example, we can choose who our closest friends are, but we can’t do much about bad weather, climate change, the high cost of living, a chronic illness, or the behavior of people you encounter daily. Unsurprisingly, it is the circumstances that you can’t change that are the ones that typically trigger the strongest emotions.

But emotions are fundamentally just signals or knee jerk reactions to a particular situation, designed to get you to do something—anything—that may relieve your anxiety. (As suggested in the beginning of this article, in earlier times the stakes were higher. You could die if you didn’t think quickly enough to escape a predator or similar life-threatening situation.) As stressful as a situation may be, however, we can’t forget that we always have the power and choice to decide how to respond. This realization alone allows us to regain control in a stressful situation.

The authors point to a stark example to illustrate this point. The Roman philosopher from the sixth century, Boethius, wrote quite a bit about this mental source of strength and power from—ironically—inside a prison cell as he waited to be executed for allegedly conspiring against King Theodoric, the ruling authority at the time. Boethius knew he couldn’t change his physical circumstances, but he knew he could change his attitude. By changing his attitude, he reasoned, he could gain the upper hand and rise above his bleak situation. This is why he wrote from his prison cell: “So true is it that nothing is wretched but thinking makes it so.” If you think you are miserable, you will be. But if you think you have risen above your situation, then you have accomplished that as well.

Metacognition: Step by Step

A few tips to get you started…

1. Examine your situation objectively.
Metacognition tells you to look at your emotions in the third person, as if they are affecting someone else, like a character in a book. This strategy allows you to thoughtfully choose your next steps, not based on—and driven by—negative emotions but based on outcomes you want in your life. Let the emotion pass over you. Don’t internalize any negativity. Think to yourself: “I am not going to let this emotion take over who I am.” In so doing, you have regained control.

2. Write down what you are feeling and what you can do about it.
By writing down your thoughts, you are forcing yourself to think about the situation, your options, and your behavior in relation to it. This step helps you analyze and identify a rational path forward.

3. What can you learn from the stressful event or situation?
Even if your current crisis ranks as one of the all-time worst, what have you discovered? With the passage of time, you are bound to gain a healthy perspective and some wisdom as well. Once you have captured the stressful event objectively—including the emotions it triggered—leave a few lines empty for later reflection. Come back to your notes after 1 month and then again after 6 months. No doubt you will have made some important conclusions about the experience, which can help you live life a bit more calmly and process a similar situation more constructively in the future.

4. Get into the habit of thinking positively about the events in your life.
Write down positive memories, even the smallest little moment that made you smile. This step underlines the value of thinking positively. Show a bit of gratitude for life’s moments of joy—a kind word from a stranger or a small, but unexpected act of generosity from a coworker. Studies show that when you begin the day by thinking about reasons to be grateful, your mood and outlook are likely to be elevated as well.

Do you want to make your day a little brighter—and a little easier too? Most of us do. Then consider this:

Research shows that if we make some simple shifts in how we think about—and react to—normal day-to-day occurrences, we are likely to benefit in multiple ways. Most importantly, we are likely to vastly improve our sense of well-being and feelings of happiness.

Ready to give it a go? Great! Here are a few tips from cutting-edge “happiness” research.

When problems crop up, bring out the best version of yourself.

When I was younger, I had a teacher who managed to bring out the best in her students—even though we behaved like a bunch of rough and tough, mischievous rascals most of the time. I don’t know how she did it, but we learned the value of taking a deep breath, removing ourselves physically from the situation if necessary, and getting a grip on our impulses before talking out the problem. Try to handle the situation as professionally as possible. To this day, I try to follow this simple process and it hasn’t let me down yet.

Give people the benefit of the doubt and don’t “overthink” it.

Human beings are complex, full of interesting—and sometimes annoying—quirks. If the events of a day, or a particular individual, throw you a curve ball, take it in stride. Don’t let your mind go into overdrive—jumping to unfounded conclusions, concocting conspiracy theories, etc. This kind of thinking will quickly take you into a black hole. Instead of wasting energy building up feelings of anger and resentment, make a conscious decision to NOT go down a negative—and self-defeating—path. Instead, put a positive spin on the situation.

Take criticism in stride.

Well-meaning messengers may bungle the delivery through poor word choice or other awkward habits, but most people just want to help you get the job done—and offer support along the way. We all could use some practice both delivering and receiving advice, but here’s the bottom line. Before immediately thinking the worst, take a step back and look at the situation objectively. Nine times out of ten you are likely to learn something useful from offered advice. So, take the tip and run with it.

Reach out to people you don’t know.

A study recently found that a significant boost of happiness comes from striking up conversations with strangers or people you don’t know well. This can be someone you bump into at the local coffee shop or laundromat, or someone you meet as you wait to catch a train. It can also be someone you don’t regularly interact with at your place of work. If you start up a conversation with someone new, research says you can count on experiencing some unexpected joy. Not a bad result, right?

Think of a moment when you were on the receiving end of an act of kindness.

How did that make you feel? Now, consider a switch: You be the agent of kindness and replicate that act on someone else’s behalf.

Hang out with positive people.

It’s bound to improve your outlook. We can’t always be chipper, of course, because we’re only human. But hanging with like-minded, positive people is energizing and good for your soul. We’ve all experienced a negative personality—someone who’s outlook is “half empty” and just plain cynical—even when times are good. In most cases, you want to avoid running into that person again because, let’s face it, a bad attitude is just a drain on your energy. By hanging with positive people, the good vibes have a way of spreading. Before long, your cynical outlook will be a thing of the past.

Make gratitude a habit.

This one can be difficult to remember to do, but the benefits pay off in spades. Carve out five minutes of your day to think about something you are grateful for. It can be as simple as being thankful for the delicious piece of cake you plan to enjoy at lunch or the fortifying heart-to-heart conversation you had with a coworker recently. Wasn’t it great when your friend gave you two free tickets to a concert last week? (Anyway, you probably get the picture by now.) Even on the tougher days, it’s usually possible to find at least one thing to appreciate.

After all, isn’t it way too easy these days to think of a community or an individual somewhere in the world that has it significantly worse than you do?

Don’t complain; own up to your mistakes.

A few years ago, a U.S. political figure was mocked by many around the world for his habit of blaming others for what were essentially self-created hardships. To put it bluntly, he was a big baby—and just about everyone in the world knew it. In 2019, a massive balloon in the shape of an infant—complete with diaper and pin–of this particular politician bounced along in a variety of public spaces as part of various political demonstrations. A turbulent relationship between the world community and this international figure soon followed. Needless to say, not owning up to mistakes or refusing to accept blame will rarely get you far.

You’ve got this. Reflect on personal and professional dreams.

Here’s the underlying message to everything we’ve covered in this article: The mind is a powerful thing. By exerting a little discipline over your thoughts, you can affect your environment—and your happiness—in countless ways.

Similarly, your state of mind can help you achieve both personal and professional goals. It should come as no surprise that high achievers, from medal-earning Olympians to successful entrepreneurs, often visualize their dreams in their heads before attempting to implement them.

So, on a final note, take a moment to consider your dreams—you are worthy of them—and then chart a course to making them happen.