Great at Work: The Hidden Habits of Top Performers Paperback – Illustrated, September 3, 2019

Morten Hansen’s educational and compelling new book, “Great at Work,” provides readers with a new perspective on “great performance” in the workplace. The attractiveness of this book is that it presented an evidence-based, comprehensive understanding. In creating the survey discussed in this book, Morten considered the findings of over 200 published academic studies relating to working smarter. Throughout the book, Morten provides results from a regression analysis performance study of 5,000 people. The 5,000 people represented 15 industry sectors and 22 job functions with a balanced ratio of gender, age and education level. The results are presented within three main parts – mastering your own work, mastering working with others and mastering work-life balance.Morten had a sophisticated literature review; he not only talked about his own books in the field, but also the works of other authors. Within the book, he referenced The War for Talent, On the Mend, Drive, Peak, Contagious, Power, and 7 Habits of Highly Effective People to name a few. Even Oprah Winfrey made the cut, when Morten talked about her commencement address to Stanford’s graduating class of 2008.In what could have been a dry, instructional, lecture style novel, Morten Hansen has created a composition of tips to help employees work smarter (not harder) and achieve more. By enhancing the reading with scenarios in multiple work settings, he has allowed any individual the ability to relate to these different situations and develop ways to use the strategies in their own daily work lives.Morten presented strategies for measuring and maximizing value, the art of deliberate practice, and matching purpose and passion. Morten mentioned that more activities does not equal more value and provided an equation for measuring value. This equation states that the value of a person’s work equals the benefits to others multiplied by the quality of the work multiplied by the efficiency. Another idea he presented was deliberate practice which involves doing a new skill, getting feedback, and making the necessary changes based on the feedback provided. Morten challenged the accepted idea to “follow your passion”. Morten tested the idea and concluded that one had to match his or her passion with purpose to be truly effective at work.While a majority of the tips given in this book are easily applicable, one that is not is refusing your boss. Although, Morten does mention the difficulty of this task and how it should be exercised with caution, there are many factors to consider before applying this tip. Firstly, the employee must fully understand the goals of the team and his or her role. If the employee does not have this understanding, he or she will not be able to give proper reasoning for refusing his or her manager. Secondly, he or she must understand the culture of the company that he or she is working for. If the culture in the company encourages employee involvement with changing processes, then refusing to take on a new project would not be frowned upon. Conversely, if the culture of the company does not encourage employee involvement then the refusal might not be accepted.Morten defies convention by providing a new perspective profound beliefs from the learnings within the chapter. A person doesn’t have to change his or her life by any modern standard, but this appreciably readable book is not in the business of following the status quo. Not only does this book elucidate the keys for top work performance, it provides a new perspective which could change one’s approach in all fields of life and maintain a positive work life balance.

Do you know anyone who is more successful than you at work, (define success any way you wish,) and doesn’t work nearly as hard as you do? What do they have that you don’t? This is the question that Professor Hansen’s book answers.The usual answer is either that they put in more time than you, or they are simply more talented. Hansen’s thorough research has a different answer – the highest performers across industries, age groups, gender, education, and other dimensions, work smarter, not harder.Of course, no-one wants to work ‘dumb’, but few people work ‘smart’ because there is so little solid guidance on how to work ‘smart’. This book is the solid guidance we have been looking for.In 2011, Hansen launched one of the most comprehensive research projects ever undertaken on individual performance at work. It was based on in-depth interviews with 120 professionals and a 300-person pilot survey. The framework that emerged was used in a study of 5,000 managers and employees.“In the end,” Hansen reports, “we discovered that seven “work smart” practices seemed to explain a substantial portion of performance.”People who work smart select a tiny set of priorities and make huge efforts in those areas. They focus on creating value for the end user, not just reaching pre-set goals. The fact that you get your excellent reports in on time, every time, doesn’t mean they add any value. They only add value, if they are read or considered by the recipients.Smart working avoids mindless repetition. The famous 10,000 hours of practice won’t improve your management ability. It only works with an activity that has a fixed rule structure. Instead, you need to practice ever better skills.When work is infused, deliberately and thoughtfully with passion and a worthy purpose, it leads to work that really produces. These practices relate to mastering your own work, and the next set of practices address how to get the most out of working with others.When working with others, smart work requires the effective use of influence to elicit support. Working efficiently and effectively requires that you avoid time-wasting meetings, and participate only in meetings that spark vigorous debate. The interdepartmental projects you commit to must be exclusively those that are most productive.I will focus on just two practices that were found to be foundational – “Do less, then obsess”, and “P-Squared”.As you no doubt know, people who prioritise well, perform well, but Hansen’s research revealed that these people do something else as well. They obsess over those chosen tasks to produce quality work. They had a smaller volume of activities and are able to exert more concentrated effort.If you rank as a middle level performer (in the 50th percentile,) and then change to choosing a few key priorities, and channel a tremendous amount of effort into doing exceptional work in those areas, your performance will leap into that of the 75th percentile of achievers. This particular practice affects performance more than any other of the 6 practices in this book.The need for narrowing your activities is to avoid the “complexity trap” and the mental exertion that is wasted on a wider spread of your attention.To do anything exceptionally well requires great effort on a focused area. Alfred Hitchcock required more than seventy shots to perfect the shower scene in the movie ‘Psycho’. James Dyson created 5,000 prototypes of his famous vacuum cleaner.This book is very practical. It deals for example, with the common problems real people have in real workplaces where they are not in total control. How do you say “no” to your manager? Hansen suggests that you make clear that you’re not trying to slack off. You’re prioritising because you want to excel in a few key areas that will add most value. And no, it is just not possible to give the attention necessary to excel in all areas: so which area is preferable?700 years ago, a European Friar and philosopher William of Ockham, formulated a principle known as ‘Occam’s razor’. According to this principle one pares activities and explanations down to their simplest form, but no more simple. Do you really need all those steps or intermediaries in the production of goods or services? What can you eliminate that will not affect the desired outcome?There are few parts of your responsibility where you will find nothing to eliminate. Now you can “obsess” about what remains to perfect it - and keep perfecting it.A second fundamental is the issue of passion and purpose. This not the simplistic view that you should “just harness your power to your passion.”Following your passion is not the one key to success, it also leads to poverty, as so many have found out the hard way. Ignoring your passion isn’t great either, as anyone working at something they don’t feel for, knows well.The solution uncovered in Hansen’s research is to match passion with purpose, something available to almost everyone, almost everywhere.To clarify these terms, Hansen explains: “Passion is ‘do what you love,’ while purpose is ‘do what contributes.’ Purpose asks, ‘What can I give the world?’ Passion asks, ‘What can the world give me?’”The statistical analysis of 5,000 people shows that people who match passion with purpose perform much better, on average, than those who lack either purpose or passion or both - by 18 points!When you love what you do, you work with vigour. And if you also feel that you’re helping other people—that they need you and depend on your contribution—your motivation to excel becomes that much more intense.What the research shows, is that nearly everyone can achieve this match, and that there are no truly special workplaces. “We found that nearly every industry or occupation boasted at least some people who reported lots of passion and purpose.”That only certain industries and jobs allow for passion and purpose is a myth. Hansen found might not hear much about passionate truck drivers or shop attendants or call centre employees, but the data indicates that they are there. Passion comes in various forms.You can find passion for your work because you love achieving and your work allows you to achieve; or be creative; or be with people you like; or learn and grow; or do what you do best every day.A strong sense of purpose only comes from activities that don’t harm anyone—customers, suppliers, your manager, your organization, employees, the community, or the environment.In a 2009 study of zookeepers, researchers found that some saw cleaning cages and feeding animals as a filthy, meritless job, while others saw it as a moral duty to protect and provide proper care for the animals. Same job, different feelings of purpose. One can find purpose anywhere.People with both passion and purpose are more energized, and accomplish more in each hour of work. The challenge is to find both in the context in which you operate.To work smart means to maximize the value of your work by selecting a few activities, and applying intense targeted effort.This book offers a sound method for increasing your effectiveness at work. It is well worth reading very carefully; it holds value way beyond what is contained in this short piece.Readability Light ---+- SeriousInsights High +---- LowPractical High +---- Low*Ian Mann of Gateways consults internationally on leadership and strategy and is the author of the recently released ‘Executive Update.