Why Australians want to work smarter. Not harder.
To embrace working smarter, the first thing we need to do, is learn to accept help. After all, if you want to do everything yourself, you will always be working harder and not smarter. After identifying areas that are core to your business and success, (a lot of) other areas remain that are ancillary to that. The opportunity to work smarter lies in outsourcing those areas to others, preferably to deliver on those at a cost lower than you can and at a quality that is much higher!
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Okay, we know what you’re thinking. Australia is built on the idea of hard work. From the perspective of our First Nations, as well as folks that came later, everyone had to work hard and pull their weight to survive on the adventurous, treacherous and rich Australian soil.
However, we argue Australians have always worked smart as well. How else were First Nations able to survive and thrive for 60,000 years? It’s time to embrace this more, and look for opportunities to bring this to the forefront as we emerge in a post-pandemic world, where digital enablement is the norm.
Accept help
To embrace working smarter, the first thing we need to do, is learn to accept help. After all, if you want to do everything yourself, you will always be working harder and not smarter. After identifying areas that are core to your business and success, (a lot of) other areas remain that are ancillary to that. The opportunity to work smarter lies in outsourcing those areas to others, preferably to deliver on those at a cost lower than you can and at a quality that is much higher!
If the prospect of being able to just focus on work that you’re good at and that you enjoy isn’t enough, and you are more scientifically inclined, The Big Smoke quotes Harvard Business Review [1], which has found that working harder doesn’t help. The law of diminishing returns more than applies to this: "There’s a large body of research that suggests that regardless of our reasons for working long hours, overworking does not help us. It doesn’t seem to result in more output. In a study of consultants, managers could not tell the difference between employees who actually worked 80 hours a week and those who just pretended to…the story of overwork is literally a story of diminishing returns: keep overworking, and you’ll progressively work more stupidly on tasks that are increasingly meaningless.”
So, how to do this concretely?
Yet, we don’t like airy-fairy stuff in Australia much (outside some suburbs in Sydney and Melbourne). So the question may arise as to how to do this concretely. And there are ways.
Already the pandemic has surprised us and accelerated digital transformation more than we could have ever imagined before. It has accelerated our ability to be able to work remotely, and for many we have been able to realise some of our dreams by moving to remote areas, spending more time with family and loved ones, reducing dreaded commutes and having open conversations around flexible work arrangements with our employers. There is no doubt all of this has the potential to substantially improve the quality of our lives.
These changes and transitions have been supported and enabled by technology and software. Some might say the companies behind these technologies and software products are “the winners of the Pandemic”, however, aren’t we all? To us, this, alongside the increased environmental consciousness are the silver linings of the pandemic. And for all the hardship we endured, each in our own way, we want to hold onto the advantages that the pandemic has accelerated, and amplify it where possible.
So why wouldn’t we continue to look for opportunities to work smarter, and not harder? Why would the transition from our old 9-5 office grind to more flexibility and smarter work stop here and now? It doesn’t have to. We can’t speak for all the great (tech) enablers out there, as there are many, however over the course of the pandemic we have seen a dramatic increase in use cases for Harmonizer. This is why we are expanding internationally - starting in Australia, then Asia Pacific, and beyond.
Since we are digital crafts(wo)men, we love to explore new options with you. We are also true blue coffee lovers. So if you’re keen to explore options, the coffee is on us. Ideas are free as well. We want to enable you to work smarter, and truly embrace the “no worries” lifestyle. If this sounds like an appealing prospect, request a conversation with us here!
Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash