There’s a common misconception in traditional-minded companies that your employees should always have something to do. That’s a very dangerous belief. Why… you may think (especially if you’re the one paying the staff or managing them).
Let me backtrack first. I know my statement is a very general one. I’m making that statement under the assumption that your work environment is characterized by professional, smart, creative, resourceful workers. Now under that assumption, I believe workers need some "free" time to strive. If you don’t believe me, look at companies like Google. I’m sure you’ve heard of their 20% time project rule. What that means is that they let their employees work on their own projects 1 full day out of a work week. That’s a pretty impressive number. And if you think that’s just a waste of time, consider that gmail, google talk and google news were among those projects in their infancy.
Now at this point, you may be thinking "well… they have the money to afford it." True, but the reality is that they didn’t get there just by chance. It is precisely this trust-based and progressive mentality that made them the successful players they now are. What I’m saying is, if you can’t afford letting them work on their own projects for 20% of their time, start with a lower percentage. Even if it’s just 10 or 5% of their time, that’s better than nothing. What you really can’t afford is to have a workforce that’s so overwhelmed by their workload that they become stagnant. Almost like machines or robots in an assembly line, unable to do anything else outside of a box.
The reality is that our brains need a mental break throughout the day. It is under those "calm" times your workers will think about extraordinary things. It is in those times when they will be able to think outside of the box, and consider new processes / solutions / alternatives that had not been considered before. Have you ever been thinking about how to solve a complex problem in your life for days, and then all of a sudden, when you’re taking a shower, driving, or at the most random moment you think of an alternative that had never crossed your mind? I’m sure you have. It is precisely the combination of thinking/not-thinking about a particular problem what eventually allows you to come to (at the best) a brilliant solution.
In short, if you’re a technology company (or for that fact any other kind of "progressive" company), you must make sure there’s room in your operations to allow your workers to develop new ideas. You must create a culture that supports and encourages such times.
Tags: Management
