In the workplace it is commonly believed that hard work leads to productivity, profitability and personal success. Unfortunately, sometimes this does not happen because effort is being put into doing the wrong things and not knowing how to do the right ones. This is often referred to as "working harder but not smarter" or "working too hard." It is difficult to recognize when we are counter-productive. This is because the ways we used to succeed in the past may not be getting the best results in the present. When caught on an unrewarding treadmill, there is a tendency to do more of the same instead of taking time to consider making changes.

Some of the signs of working too hard are:

• Frequent frustration and anger
  
• Bad decisions
  
• Procrastination
  
• Defensiveness and excuses
  
• Frequent illness, physical aches and pains
  
• Results don't come fast enough
  
• Family upsets
  
• Not having any fun

There are a number of reasons highly competent people overwork and not succeed. The most common ones are:

• Focusing on tasks to be accomplished and not people involved
  
• Trying to control everyone and everything
  
• Not communicating well with authority and managing up
  
• Not balancing the need for detail with strategic priorities
  
• Working in isolation and refusing to ask for help
  
• Not understanding what needs to be prioritized to meet other expectations
  
• Creating unnecessary work
  
• Not working from strengths

Coaching is a process to help people become more productive with less effort. Causes of overwork, such as those fore-mentioned, are first identified. Then strategies are put in place to make changes. There are hundreds of strategies that include learning to: simplify, improve communication skills, manage time, get organized, delegate, build relationships, empower others, use new technology; create a vision, target market, develop personal foundation, etc. Strategies then are broken down into accomplishable steps for which there is structure for accountability and support when challenges occur.

For example, when employing a delegation strategy, some of the action steps would be: getting comfortable with the idea of needing help; learning to specifically communicate requests, desired outcome, feedback and acknowledgement; learning to focus on end result and not getting involved in day to day "nitty gritty."

Improving productivity through working smarter requires a commitment to make personal changes when faced with the frustrations of working too hard. Coaching is a way that people can be encouraged to learn new ways of approaching their jobs. Apart from working with a professional coach, managers can act as coaches, employees can be encouraged to coach each other, and people can be taught to self-coach. What is most important is making the commitment to making it easier - determining a strategy - then taking consistent action toward making it happen.