Latest / Daily Influence / 747. Speed Is Expensive: The Hidden Operational Cost of Moving Too Fast

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747. Speed Is Expensive: The Hidden Operational Cost of Moving Too Fast · Daily Influence

• 0:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to Daily Influence, your daily dose of positive influence.
• 0:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm Brian Smith founder of IA Business Advisors and co-author of the Iain team series.
• 0:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Each day we share stories and insights to help you find be and build your influence in a positive and responsible way.
• 0:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm Greg Kleeneau, partner at IA Business Advisors, and co-host of Daily Influence.
• 0:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Be sure to follow, subscribe, and share Daily Influence with someone who could use a little extra positivity today.
• 0:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: And make us part of your daily routine, whether it's during your commute, on a walk, or an quiet moment just for you, because you're influenced matters.
• 0:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to talk about something that sounds productive on the surface, but in practice often creates more damage than progress in that is speed and a lot of you have heard me talk about this over and over and over again, and that's because going too fast or more specifically, not cost of moving too fast most organizations believe that faster is better response faster higher faster design faster,
• 1:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Launch faster, fix it faster, while urgency certainly has its place, speed by itself is not always a competitive advantage, because speed without clarity becomes chaos and chaos is expensive.
• 1:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's why it is the largest chapter in our first book, individual influence, find the item team is where we find chaos is expensive and what I've learned over decades of working with businesses of every size is this.
• 1:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: speed often feels efficient in the moment, but becomes expensive later.
• 1:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: The bill just doesn't show up right away.
• 2:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: It shows up in later rework, damaged communication, frustrated employees, customer, dissatisfaction, and miss expectations.
• 2:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: And in leaders having to circle back to fix things that should have been done correctly the first time.
• 2:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: Speed has a cost.
• 2:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if we're not careful,
• 2:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Rust decisions usually create delayed consequences.
• 2:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: One of the most expensive things in business is making a fast decision without enough context.
• 2:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes we confuse decisiveness with effectiveness.
• 2:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: But making a decision quickly does not automatically make it a good decision.
• 2:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: Fast decisions made with incomplete information
• 2:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: clarifying emails, process corrections, financial cleanup, relationship preparing suddenly the fast decision becomes the slowest path possible.
• 3:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: In smart management, we talk often about slowing down just enough to gain clarity of four acting.
• 3:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's not paralysis.
• 3:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's not over analysis.
• 3:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's an intentional pause because five extra minutes of clarity
• 3:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: rework is where speed becomes amazingly expensive.
• 3:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: Operationally, rework is one of the biggest hidden, actually not so hidden, but hidden costs inside any organization.
• 3:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: A task done incorrectly and then repeated, costs more than a task done correctly once.
• 3:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: A lot of people are just saying, yeah, duh.
• 3:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yet many businesses unintentionally,
• 3:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: Just send it, we'll fix it later.
• 3:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: But later, always comes and later usually costs more.
• 4:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: More time, more labor, more money, more frustration.
• 4:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: And perhaps most costly, more lost trust.
• 4:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: People become exhausted when they're constantly redoing work that could have been avoided through better planning and communication upfront.
• 4:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: unnecessary acceleration.
• 4:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes teams are not moving fast because the work requires speed.
• 4:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: They're moving fast because nobody is fully clear.
• 4:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Lack of clarity can create panic.
• 4:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Panic creates urgency, urgency creates rushed communication, and rushed communication creates mistakes.
• 4:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then those mistakes require more communication.
• 4:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: And now the organization feels busy
• 4:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: but not productive.
• 4:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: This happens continuously.
• 4:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: Fast emails, fast slack or teams messages, fast meetings, fast direction changes.
• 5:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Everyone moving quickly, but not always moving together.
• 5:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: Speed without alignment becomes wasted motion.
• 5:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: False urgency can quietly become culture.
• 5:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: This one is really important.
• 5:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: Everything is as soon as possible.
• 5:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: Everything is needed right now.
• 5:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: And eventually, people stop being able to distinguish true emergencies from poor planning.
• 5:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's when urgency becomes the culture.
• 5:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that culture becomes exhausting.
• 5:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: When everything feels urgent, people burn out decision quality drops, communication shortens, patience disappears.
• 5:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: And relationships begin to carry tension
• 5:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: Healthy businesses know how to move quickly when required, but they do not live in permanent reaction mode.
• 6:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's a difference between urgency and panic disguised as urgency.
• 6:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: So today I'll leave you with this thought.
• 6:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Speed is not always a efficiency.
• 6:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes speed is simply expensive, expensive financially, expensive operational, expensive emotionally.
• 6:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: expensive culturally.
• 6:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: Moving quickly can absolutely create momentum, but only when it's supported by clarity, communication, and discipline, otherwise we end up paying for speed with rework, confusion, fatigue, and frustration.
• 6:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: In your work this week, ask yourself, where are we moving fast because it's necessary, and where are we moving fast,
• 6:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: The most productive thing a leader can do is slow the room down long enough for everyone to move forward correctly.
• 6:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thanks for listening again to daily influence as always be intentional with your influence and we look forward to seeing you again tomorrow have a great day.