As organisations return to the pre-pandemic normal, time has once again become a scarce commodity.
Those working from home find more time for personal pursuits and recreation while meeting workplace targets than those in office. This has made leaders optimise time for maximum productivity, both individually and collectively, linking performance to productivity and not the number of hours clocked in at work.
Earphone-maker Boat’s chairperson Vivek Gambhir came across the ‘85% rule’ that he said has changed his understanding of how optimal effort can lead to maximum performance. The origin of this thumb rule can be traced back to US sprinter and Olympic gold medallist Carl Lewis.
“Known to be a slow starter, Lewis was usually found trailing around the 40-metre mark. And yet, by the time the 100-metre race came to a close, he was in the lead. What was his secret? The answer lay in what Lewis wasn’t doing. Other runners were pushing themselves to the limit. Lewis, on the other hand, wasn’t straining himself to the utmost. Instead, he ran the entire race in the same way – cool, composed, collected. His strategy? To perform not at peak intensity, but slightly below it. The sprint coach who made it his mission to study Lewis’ winning approach would describe it as the ‘85% rule’,” Gambhir said in a blog post.
“When organisations demand 110% all day, everyday, the workplace becomes a hotbed of tension, resentment and misplaced priorities, ultimately hampering productivity,” he added.
How are organisations using this 85% rule?
Max Financial Services’s chief HR officer Simar Deep Kaur said everyone should define their own 85%. “Each of us finds our own way around work-life balance. Depending on the life stage that a person is at, the 85% rule can keep shifting. Sometimes that 85 could become 65, and at times it can become 125,” she said.
On promoting a healthy work-life balance, Kaur said: “We promote people taking regular offs and timeouts, and our sabbatical leave policies are gender-neutral. We have seen people go slow at a certain stage of life only to take a faster leap later. We have given unlimited sick leaves on a case-to-case basis. There have also been cases where team members have come back from a sabbatical and have been given a promotion because we assess the potential in people.”
Review vs Outlook Meetings
The philosophy can be extended to business review meetings (BRMs) as well, where the maximum time is spent on analysing past performance. The solution lies in flipping the basic script of such meetings. Sanjay Khosla, from his work as a senior fellow and adjunct professor at The Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, and as adviser to companies, found that a lot of time is wasted in review meetings.
“A few months back, I attended a terrible BRM. The atmosphere was extremely negative and most of the meeting was spent dissecting the past. We sat in a windowless room. Everyone’s eyes glazed over as a massive PowerPoint deck was presented in detail. The CEO asked questions like ‘Why is this target not being met?’ There was no discussion. Everyone simply agreed with whatever the CEO said,” said Khosla.
Over the next few months, Khosla worked with the CEO and flipped how these meetings are conducted. “Instead of BRMs, where 70% of the time is spent discussing the past, we are implementing business outlook meetings (BOMs), where 70% of the discussion is future-focused,” he said.
Under outlook meetings, crisp pre-reading is sent in advance and presentations are banned so that the focus is on discussion. “The CEO listens much more. The atmosphere in the BOM is safe and nurturing. The CEO asks questions like, ‘How can we help?’ – next steps and accountability are clear,” said Khosla.
“The results have been dramatic. Employee engagement scores have improved significantly. There is less churn, more energy and a bias for action,” he said.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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