In today’s world, time, not money, is your company’s most scarce resource.
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Over my decades of consulting, I have worked with countless teams and organizations to improve the human work experience. There were ups and downs and everything in between. But those who haunt me are those who escaped – inspired people who wanted to do work Strictly speaking worked, but couldn’t implement it.
When a planned project stalls, I always hear the saying: “We don’t have the capacity at the moment.” “We have too many other things going on.” “We don’t have the budget.” “We cannot make such a commitment now.”
time and money. It always comes down to time and money. Ironically, these are also the two things that smarter collaboration saves: time and money. Here are the three arguments I would make for working smarter.
Table of Contents
The productivity case
When “This meeting could have been an email” became a meme, I was thrilled. Finally the problem is on a cup! But I soon realized that it only reinforced the idea that we’re all indulging in a terrible, old joke: Work is supposed to suck because it is work. We all waste our time with pointless meetings and email spirals because That’s just how work is.
That’s not necessarily wrong – work can be really stressful. According to Atlassian, meetings are ineffective 72% of the time, and 78% of us attend so many of these ineffective meetings that it is difficult to get work done, resulting in more than half of us working after hours. Yes, that sounds about rightyou think as you read this article while avoiding your emails. But stop for a moment and think about this: We can’t do our jobs at work because of who we are Work. That sounds like a fundamental problem worth investing in if you ask me.
The retention case
Replacing an employee can cost three to four times the salary of a position, not to mention the lost productivity of managing the workload during the search. What if you could reduce risk during turnover by solving your “how to work” issues?
It is well known that a person who has the opportunity to use their strengths at work every day, who has time for work during the actual work day, and who does not suffer from collaboration overload is more likely to be engaged at work. This is someone who is not looking for a new job. This is a person who contributes to a high-performing team.
The innovation case
I’m shocked at how many leaders who are at the cutting edge of their field still work like they’re just starting out. While they push their teams to integrate AI at lightning speed, they still use meetings as the default mechanism to get things done.
They put together large cross-functional teams to tackle their BHAGs, but the teams can’t even schedule a kickoff because the calendars are so full. You make decisions with cross-functional implications in a meeting with one team and then call an even larger meeting to inform the other functions. They gather their direct reports for nerve-wracking update meetings in which each participant spends three minutes talking and the rest of the time multitasking.
This may sound dramatic – or it may sound familiar. The fact is, if you want to work fast, think big, beat the competition, or create meaningful change, it’s time to reconsider How You do your work.
In today’s world, time, not money, is your company’s most scarce resource. If you don’t invest in better uses, you won’t get the returns you want from your other investments.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/harmoncullinan/2026/07/29/we-just-dont-have-the-time-and-money-to-save-time-and-money/
