Idea to Execution: How to Optimize, Automate, and Outsource Everything in Your Business by Ari Meisel & Nick Sonnenberg

Author:Ari Meisel & Nick Sonnenberg [Meisel, Ari]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781619615069
Publisher: Lioncrest Publishing
Published: 2016-09-17T16:00:00+00:00

8

March

Shifting to BPO

Number of client hours delivered: 980

Number of subscribers: 95

Revenue: $39,000

The Psychology of “Work”

Some people are resistant to automation because they fear it will make their position less significant. They need to feel useful even if their time is not being used wisely. There is a psychological component that goes hand in hand with knowing work is going into a project. People don’t like to let go of the illusion of productivity that is created by “work.”

The great Harvard social science researcher, Michael Norton, did a whole study on the topic. Sites such as Kayak and Hipmunk have tapped into the psychological satisfaction that accompanies this illusion of “work” with their progress bars. Those bars say, “Please wait while we search and find the best rates for you,” and shortly thereafter, lower prices pop up on the screen. When you perceive a greater effort, you feel like you are being taken care of, which makes you want to buy stuff.

Another, less technical example, of this psychological phenomenon is when someone empties the dishwasher. If they do it quietly in the morning, when everyone is still sleeping, they don’t get as much credit as they would if they waited until someone hears or sees them doing it.

These behaviors and funny human quirks manifest themselves all the time. Even though we spent thirty minutes on the phone with everyone individually at Craig Maxwell’s company, they still felt we weren’t able to truly understand their pain points. They remained resistant to our proposed solutions, and we continued to press the same processes we knew to be effective.

There are a few different ways to approach batching and productivity. It comes down to a philosophical question. For example, let’s say you had to write one hundred thank you notes. Most people will approach the task systematically, but half of them will write the card, address the envelope, and put a stamp on it, in that order. The other half of them will write all the cards first, then address all of the envelopes, and, finally, stamp each envelope.

The first option is the more psychologically rewarding, but the latter is the most efficient choice. In the first scenario, you can say you’re X percent of the way through the task if you are interrupted. The second scenario is the method we applied to Craig Maxwell’s organization. We kept getting interrupted because we had to stop and reassess. It looked like nothing was being accomplished, even though progress was being made. There was no cohesion between teams, and no one was communicating with each other.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.