The Scenario: Being EFFECTIVE and being EFFICIENT – both deliver value, so which one is better to focus on?
Being EFFECTIVE means doing the right things in order to yield the best results.
Insight: Applying your skills to a chosen target with confidence in the outcome can make you EFFECTIVE. This is valuable because confidence in your choice of where & why you are applying your efforts will get you the results you’re looking for far more reliably than skill alone.
Being EFFICIENT means doing things right, with the least amount of wasted effort.
Insight: Possessing the right skills along with a high degree of competency can make you EFFICIENT. Keeping you on-track while optimizing resources, the value of EFFICIENCY is that it can get you from point A to point B via a straight line, which has some real power.
The Takeaway: So the $64,000 question remains: Which one – if either – is “better”?
Well, being EFFICIENT tends to be more popular because it seems easier to achieve, and the consequences of being inefficient are usually not as harsh as those of being ineffective.
That said, choosing to focus on being EFFECTIVE means you’re aiming your sights at the result, so you’re more likely to continually improve upon the means & methods that will get you there.
The bottom line? EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENT work best together; they’re both important and shouldn’t be considered mutually exclusive. The key is to judge at the outset which choice of focus will deliver the results you’re looking for under your particular set of circumstances. As Henry Ford said: Put all your eggs in one basket, but then watch that basket!