The question of a client allowed to develop the clarification regarding Effectiveness and Efficiency and to outline some change management processes.

The question arose from the manager’s recent annual personnel review: he was told that he was a very efficient manager but not as effective as they had hoped.

What does it mean?

So that we can get to the heart of the feedback you received, I’ll explain the terms ‘efficient’ and ‘effective’, usually listed in management textbooks, relating them to various activities and situations. Not only entrepreneurs or managers, but also those who are dedicated to the planning, organization, management and monitoring processes, have a long practical familiarity with these terms.

This ‘anyone’ can include, besides you, many. And these are just a few examples: a housewife who runs the family affairs, a student who is going to be evaluated and graded, and also a retired civil servant who manages the budget while saving what she can for a rainy day. These are just some examples.

So let’s now speak in scientific and precise language:

Efficiency – is ‘doing things well’; be accurate, calculated and structured according to the updated procedure, in order to achieve the highest performance with the least amount of resources or efforts invested. Once you run your shop, home, or life in efficient mode, you capture the amount of waste and get the desired result while using the least amount of inputs.

Here are some everyday examples: The manager must figure out which activities would be efficiently done in-house and which would be better outsourced to reduce costs. The busy mother must determine, working to a schedule, which route(s) to drop three or four children active in various sports or social clubs in various parts of town. The student will retain more by knowing the best hours to study, based on their learning style and personal cycle of daily activation. The retired investor must monitor not only the performance, but also the costs of managing the home.

Effectiveness – is ‘doing the right things’ to not only meet current expectations, but the overall desired product.

That means: making the right decisions of what to do or what not to do. So that you yourself or others know which direction to choose and therefore which way to ignore.

In other words, you may ask yourself if you have a good handle on MANAGEMENT: doing things right, according to current procedure; this is efficiency,

and LEADERSHIP: doing the right thing, with long-term results in mind; this is efficiency