The war on waffle

Seems to me that a business owners greatest enemy is not the recession, its not the government spending review, its not even staff members pilfering pens from the stationary cuboard. It is infact the tendency of employees to waffle.

Whether its spending that little bit of extra time on the phone with the customer which can really only be described as "pub banter", or whether meetings last that extra 20 minutes because Jim just cant get to the point, businesses accross the country are hemmoraging time and energy because of a lock of breivity and a diminishing ability to be concise.

Take the Tories when they broached the very real threat of cyber terrorism (http://tinyurl.com/4kujdm4). As the Register points out politicians are notorious for it. They take your time but dont actually tell you anything and an opportunity to address a real issue and provide something useful is squandered in a cringeworthy meander through confusing territory.

Efficiency in the office gets a pasting from a fellow ranter, the idiotic owl (http://tinyurl.com/4f9o2bf). How many times have you been embroiled in a conversation with someone at University or at work and just wished they would get to the crux of it. Perhaps I am just being impatient but I have a radical theory which I think could make me the idol of Operations Directors everywhere.

My plan is to enforce communication purely in the form of post it notes, namely "If you cant fit it on a post it note then dont say it". Just imagine it, everybody communicating in concise, well thought out and relevant snippets of information.

Gone would be the days of lengthy meetings or fruitless group work. Wordless exchanges of neon painted suggestions would become the currency of business. Offices would become peaceful havens of productivty with only the faint sound of notes being slid accross a desk to distract employees. So next time you are asked a lengthy question by a colleague or fellow student, might I suggest such a response.

Let me know how it goes.