Rubrika: Beyond Measure: The Big Impact of Small Changes

Consider the message: you don’t have potential

Nominating some executives “high-potentials” may be no more than a self-fulfilling prophecy. Give these individuals special attention, training, and support and of course they do well. But it’s worth considering the message conveyed to the rest: you don’t have potential.

Margaret Heffernan: Beyond Measure: The Big Impact of Small Changes

Defensiveness was more evident than openness

Seeking to tear down the mental walls that constrain thinking and collaboration has inspired most companies to tear down office walls. Seventy percent of US companies now use open-plan offices and hot desking in the hope that these free-form physical structures will provoke free-form thinking. This architectural determinism isn’t entirely convincing—there’s plenty of evidence that people find open workspaces noisy, distracting, and impersonal. Walking through several such workspaces recently, I couldn’t help but notice how hard everyone was working to simulate privacy. Plugged into headphones, surrounded by stacks of books and temporary dividers, defensiveness was more evident than openness.

Margaret Heffernan: Beyond Measure: The Big Impact of Small Changes

Quiet time

Quiet time would be a designated part of the day in which engineers could work alone, confident that they would not be interrupted—because everyone else would be doing quiet work, too. The rest of the day would be available for “everything else.” Quiet time was set three days a week, from morning until noon. The engineers loved it. Some reported that their productivity had increased by as much as 65 percent.

Margaret Heffernan: Beyond Measure: The Big Impact of Small Changes

Working eleven or more hours a day had at least doubled the risk of depression

Working eleven or more hours a day had at least doubled the risk of depression. Those working fifty-five hours a week or more began, in midlife, to suffer cognitive loss. Their performance was poorer when tested for vocabulary, reasoning, information processing, problem solving, creativity, and reaction times. Such mild cognitive impairment also predicted earlier dementia and death.

Margaret Heffernan: Beyond Measure: The Big Impact of Small Changes