Remember Six Sigma? Before you say “no” and feel super smug that you never had to deal with it, how about Lean UX or Agile? And do you remember how much more awesome work became after your company rolled those out? No? Me either.

I know it’s more complicated than that. And maybe some things did improve in some ways. But I have to ask: why do companies insist on chasing trendy, expensive, complicated workflow and productivity overhauls when we already know some very simple things corporations COULD do to truly improve productivity, innovation, and even employee retention.

In this episode, we explore this question and look at the reasons why companies continue to chase a new fix while ignoring what we employees already know, including the mounting evidence that "always on" culture actually destroys productivity and innovation.

Rather than making us more efficient, this constant availability has allowed corporations to ignore and even indulge in their systemic inefficiencies, passing problems downstream to employees instead of fixing broken processes and placing accountability where it actually belongs.

The irony? In this historic moment when U.S. businesses desperately need to be more innovative and competitive, senior executives are turning instead to being more controlling and stifling the creativity and culture that would actually allow them to deliver real impact and results.

Resources:

Making Time Off Predictable - Harvard Business Review
Deloitte Workplace Study on Right to Disconnect policies
That’s What the Money is For! Manager on a Mission podcast episode
From Gatekeeping to Gardening Manager on a Mission podcast episode
Books: "Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less" by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang and Not Safe for Work: A good manager’s guide to better feeling work in a toxic culture by me

#33: Unproductively Productive: Corporate America's "always on" culture is killing innovation

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