Every week, my newsfeeds are filled with executives pounding their chests about hours worked. Elon Musk is famous for his “80 hour” work week demands. Scott Wu of Cognition has said, “We don’t believe in work-life balance — building the future of software engineering is a mission we all care so deeply about that we couldn’t possibly separate the two,” also demanding 60-80 hour, 6 days/week work ethic. AT&T CEO, John Stankey has written to his employees, “If a self-directed, virtual, or hybrid work schedule is essential for you to manage your career aspirations and life challenges, you will have a difficult time aligning your priorities with those of the company and the culture we aim to establish.”
Companies like Shopify, Solace, Rilla other tech startups are advertising jobs that require 60-80 hour work weeks. I’ve had a number of conversations with clients on this issue. One was asking about a seller he was looking to hire, “Do you think he’s prepared to work the 60-80 hours a week that it takes?”
These discussions have the “hours you have to work” concept all wrong, dangerously so!
Before I jump into this discussion, I have a bit of a disclaimer. I’ve never punched a clock and worked a 40 hour work week. Mine have always been much longer, often in the 60-80 hour range. But this is driven by pure choice, and not by some requirement. My work is always challenging and exciting. I don’t see those hours as a chore or mandate, but as using my time in ways that bring me great joy.
What’s the problem with the 60-80 hour workweek chest beating?
This thinking focuses only on the hours worked, but not the outcomes created. As leaders, if we want to drive the highest levels of performance and productivity, we must focus on outcomes created.
The hours worked has nothing to do with the performance. Putting in the hours, for the same results is a meaningless waste.
Some years ago, the issue of weekly work hours came up with one of my sales teams. I sat down with them explaining, “All I care about is the outcomes you create. If you can achieve your goals spending only 10 hours a week, that’s fantastic. Spend the rest of the time on the golf course or surfing. But you have to put in the work necessary to achieve your goals, if it takes 50, then you have to do the work.”
The hours worked mindset comes, primarily, from work that could be tied directly to output per hour, like on a manufacturing line. If a manufacturing line could produce 10 widgets an hour, in 40 hours you had 40 widgets, in 80—guess what. Math works. But knowledge work, the things we do in our GTM execution doesn’t always have that level of predictability. The failure of virtually all of our activity metrics demonstrates this.
The hours worked mindset, also, hides inefficiencies. As cited above, just measuring the number of meetings we have a week, doesn’t connect to the outcomes of those meetings–whether any worthwhile outcomes or results are created. The focus on hours per week does the same thing–the critical driver is the hour, not the result.
And there is the negative side to inflicting long hours on people. Excessive hours create burnout, sloppy thinking and more mistakes. They can have an adverse impact on morale, engagement and retention.
Counting hours is lazy management. While it sounds tough, it misses the critical issue for leaders. What are they doing in clarifying the strategies and priorities? What are they doing to provide tools, processes, programs, training, systems, and coaching that drive performance? What are they doing to identify and removing roadblocks to maximizing performance? What are they doing in focusing people on work that really matters, eliminating everything else?
I suppose in today’s manosphere, beating one’s chest bragging about hours worked is supposed to be impressive. Frankly, I’m more impressed by the results produced.
Since I’m known as the “ruthless pragmatist,” here are some things every leader should focus on, rather than hours worked:
- Define success in outcomes, not inputs, activities, of time spent.
- Model effectiveness in everything you do. Focus your work on what drives progress and results, not your 24/7 email/text/meeting availability.
- Enable your people to work smarter, not harder. Remove roadblocks, streamline workflows, work with them, coach them to improve the results produced in everything they do. Focus on making them more successful!
Afterword: I continue to be stunned by the skyrocketing quality of the AI based discussions of these posts. This is great! Enjoy!
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