Four Uses of the Phrase Work Smarter Not Harder During Appraisals: Part One

Introduction

I should guess that at some time in your working life you have been told that you must work smarter not harder. You may very well have said it yourself to someone. This is one of those odious management-speak phrases that are at best annoying and at worst downright deceitful. The phrase is often uttered during the course of appraisals by the appraiser to the appraisee – there are, of course other occasions when it is used – but very often it is during appraisals. Managers addressing staff collectively in meetings are wont to utter the words, but that’s another story. 

For the sake of brevity, let’s stick with appraisals. There are at least four circumstances that immediately come to mind when this objectionable phrase may be used during the course of an appraisal. There are probably a good many more, but I’ll stay with four for the time being. I’ll look at two of these circumstances in this blog and the other two in a subsequent blog.  And if I think of any more, I may well devote further blogs to the topic. 

The “We’re All in It Together Use”

The first circumstance when it might be used is where an appraiser uses it without truly thinking about what she is saying. Perhaps she is using it as filler; perhaps she is using it because her boss uses it; perhaps she is using it because she thinks it’s that right thing to say. In this type of usage, the phrase will generally not be aimed at you as an individual. More likely your appraiser says something like: ‘we all have to learn to work smarter rather than harder’. And it will usually be followed by a self-deprecating, conspiratorial comment like: ‘heaven knows I’m doing my best to work smarter, aren’t we all’. This usage is just meaningless and pretty irritating whilst at the same time, perhaps, being understandable and forgivable 

It’s understandable and forgivable because often the appraiser who uses it in this context is new to her role, a little unsure of herself and, perhaps, even a little intimidated by appraising you. She is using the phrase to show that she is, in fact, one of the group to which you belong. She just has to carry out this unpleasant duty of appraising you. There may, on some occasions, be a hint of criticism about how you are performing; however, at this stage in your appraiser’s management career she does not feel confident in articulating this criticism expressly. At this stage she’d rather you liked her. No doubt in the fullness of time, she’ll toughen up and things will then be different.  

The “I’m Trying to Help You Use”

The second circumstance when it might be used is one with some claim to acceptability. Its acceptability stems from the fact that, usually, your appraiser is genuinely trying to help you – inevitably she fails miserably – and has a degree of sympathy with your circumstances. There will, of course, be occasions when your appraiser is not too concerned about being helpful, but let’s stay with the charitable view that, usually; she’ll be trying to help you. 

Like it or not, when it is uttered in this circumstance it is usually the case that you are getting bogged down a bit with work. You may not want to admit this, but it is usually the case that you are struggling. This might be your fault – perhaps you are genuinely not up to the job. It might be your employer’s fault – quite simply your company is overloading you. More often than not it’s a bit of both.

In such cases when you are told that you should work smarter not harder you are rarely given any explanation about what that might involve. If you are lucky – or perhaps unlucky - enough to be given some advice about achieving the condition of smart working, the advice, generally, has something to do with time-management. If you are amazingly lucky you might get the chance to go on a time-management course! 

If we look a little closer at this circumstance we’ll see that, as admirable as your appraiser’s motives may be, suggesting you work smarter is nothing short of utter nonsense. To begin with, what precisely does it mean to work smarter? Let’s begin where the case where you are getting overwhelmed with work because, regrettably, you are not up to the job. 

As unpalatable as this may be, if you simply do not have the skills for the job, then no amount of smarter working (whatever that might be) is going to help. If working smarter is down to time-management – which may to be the case – if you are not capable of doing the job you will not be able to do the job even if your appraiser can miraculously give you an extra eight hours in the day. 

What you need is training. And this raises the question: what on earth are you doing in a job for which you do not possess the required skills. This is something that should have been identified when you were appointed – unless you lied at your interview. If it is the case that you have been appointed recently and this appraisal is determining what you need to do the job, your appraiser should not be talking a load of nonsense about working smarter. And why on earth use an appraisal to determine your training needs? This should have been done on appointment. Unless this is taking place the day after appointment, in which case we’d have no idea at this stage that you are not up to the job. 

On the other hand, what if the reason you are sinking under sheer volume of work is because your company is placing outrageous demands upon you. Telling you to work smarter in such a case may hit you as a little perverse however helpful your appraiser is trying to be. In such circumstances, how will better time-management help you one bit? I am, of course, still working on the basis that working smarter means doing something about time-management. The something that you might do is something that you are not currently doing or might do differently, or perhaps something you might stop doing. 

Any advice you might be given on time-management usually comes down to a small number of, let’s face it, fairly obvious ways of working and a few of the adviser’s own pet time-management essentials. Those ways of going about your working day that are preached by almost every self-styled time-management expert include: planning, setting targets, prioritising, delegating and making a to-do list. I don’t suggest for a moment that the preceding list is an exhaustive one. 

If you are competent at your job but just have too much work for any one human being to handle, then no amount of planning and whatever else will make any difference. Indeed, you probably plan, target, prioritise and delegate along with the best.  

What if you are competent at your job but – and this is highly improbable - you are the world’s worst time manager? If you have too much work for any single human being to handle, how in the name of all that is reasonable is working smarter (managing your time better) going to improve things? Indeed it might have the effect of making things significantly worse.  

Are There Any Exceptions?

Time-management experts (so-called) will say that the above are extremes and that there are many people who by working smarter – that is planning and all the rest – can become significantly more efficient workers. The exhortation to work smarter not harder in these cases is quite legitimate. I’m not so sure. 

I am convinced that planning and all the rest is something that either you do as naturally as you breathe, or you don’t do because it is as unnatural to you as walking backwards. If you fall into the latter group no matter how often you are told to work smarter, and no matter how many time-management courses you attend, it will make little or no difference.  

There is a third group. This group comprises those who just waste time. You’ll always find them drinking coffee, on the internet, chatting and generally avoiding work (sometimes doing all four things at the same time). To this group the exhortation is not work smarter it is simply: start working. 

In a future post I’ll look at two other uses of the phrase work smarter not harder.

 

Garry Costain is the Managing Director of Caremark Thanet, a domiciliary care provider with offices in Margate, Kent. Caremark Thanet provides home care services throughout the Isle of Thanet. Garry can be contacted on 01843 235910 or email garry.costain@caremark.co.uk. You can also visit Caremark Thanet's website at www.caremark.co.uk/thanet.