Can We Level The Balance Of The 80/20 Rule?

Most of us know the 80/20 Rule, but how many of us have challenged this statement and aimed for a more balanced result in the workplace?  

The 80/20 Rule also known as the Pareto Principle was researched in 1968 by psychologist Robert Rosenthal who also developed the Pygmalion Effect.  This rule states that for many events, roughly 80% of outcomes come from 20% of causes.  The original observation was in connection to population wealth in Italy where 80% of the land was owned by 20% of the population.  On the back of this discovery Rosenthal completed other surveys and found the 80/20 division to be common in many areas.  In computing 20% of bug fixes will fix 80% of errors, in sport 20% of the exercises and habits have 80% of the impact, in occupational health and safety 20% of hazards create 80% of injuries and in the workplace 20% of employees are responsible for 80% of the productivity.  But what if we challenge this rule in the workplace?  Is it possible to level the balance?  I think so.  

There are 7 core business practices we can tweak to potentially level the balance of the 80/20 Rule.

  1. Courageous and Empathetic leadership.  A leader with vision and a genuine interest in the wellbeing of their workers is the leader you want to be, and the leader teams want to work for so be sure that you and all your leaders have these qualities. 

2. Sound hiring, and job placement decisions.  Start hiring with a clear understanding of the vacancy job description and all company policies and procedures relevant to the role.  These are your map to finding the absolute best potential new hires. 

3. Awesome training and onboarding.  We all understand the importance of solid foundations and training and onboarding are your foundations for success.  Even if someone knows how to do a job e.g., bar tending, they still need to be trained in the intricacies of how you do it in your business and what your customer expectations are.  

4. Correct job alignment.  Workers who are poorly positioned in a company underperform, quickly become unmotivated and are not inclined to stay in a business for long and one of the most common examples of misaligned workers is top performing workers promoted to management roles with little management aptitude. 

5. Great company culture.  Great talent wants to work in a business with a great culture and great talent is your competitive advantage. 

6. Career development and pathways. Help your employees and potential new hires envisage a future with you. 

7. Lead your workers with a genuine desire for continuous and intentional learning and business development.   

We don’t raise our children expecting only 2 out of 10 of them to make a valuable contribution to society so why do we apply this limiting belief in our work teams. Challenge and commit to levelling the balance of the 80/20 Rule in your business and measure the impact on your bottom line, you’ll be glad you did.