First we have to figure out what we are talking about. Efficiency as defined by Dr. Stephen Covey of 7 habits fame is the ability to preform a task with the least expended resources. It deals mostly with processes and things. You take a process, remove a component that has no real function and gets in the way, the process goes faster with fewer mistakes you have efficiency.
Effectiveness in Dr. Covey's way of thinking is the ability to effectively deal with your people. By allowing them to work with you towards a shared goal things get done better.
Of the two most people coming from an accounting and thing based paradigm would be more comfortable dealing with problems in an efficiency mode, and a great many of the companies you see around make this their way of life for better or for worse.
Now if you do the hard ground work to get things up and running in an effective way, and it takes years and talented self teaching and motivated leaders to do it, an effective organization will automatically fix efficiency problems, after all your people on the ground floor are the ones who see the waste first hand every day of the week. Good people make great processes, but I have yet to see a good process that could create great people outside of education.
Effectiveness in Dr. Covey's way of thinking is the ability to effectively deal with your people. By allowing them to work with you towards a shared goal things get done better.
Of the two most people coming from an accounting and thing based paradigm would be more comfortable dealing with problems in an efficiency mode, and a great many of the companies you see around make this their way of life for better or for worse.
Now if you do the hard ground work to get things up and running in an effective way, and it takes years and talented self teaching and motivated leaders to do it, an effective organization will automatically fix efficiency problems, after all your people on the ground floor are the ones who see the waste first hand every day of the week. Good people make great processes, but I have yet to see a good process that could create great people outside of education.
