Have you ever asked

yourself, "Why am I doing this?" "Why is

this report necessary?" Experience shows me many

people spend valuable time, effort and energy doing

unnecessary or redundant work. The larger the

organization the worse the problem becomes.

I worked for the Federal

government and Lord knows we wasted a lot of time doing

unnecessary work-sometimes called, "busy

work." It sounds like a Dilbert cartoon, but it is

true. "Let's count something so it looks like we are

working" mentality. In fact, I knew of entire

departments performing functions no longer needed adding

no value what-so-ever.

Any function or process

failing to add value to the business is what I call a

"vampire function." Superstitions aside, a

vampire is dead, but still can drain the life out of its

victims. Vampire functions serve the same purpose.

Vampire functions consume precious resources and have

little influence on anything important. Smart managers

find out how much time people spend doing unnecessary

work-vampire functions.

Take for example . .

.meetings. Most meetings create that sucking sound. They

are a big; black hole of wasted of time. I knew one CEO

who forbids all meetings. He told all his managers if

they had something important to say to get off their

duffs and go tell their people individually. As a result

the company started making more money and communication

improved.

Consider red tape and

unnecessary paperwork. Each year businesses generate 2.5

trillion pieces of paper. Onethird of that are forms.

Corporations spend $100 billion each year in processing

forms. Ask yourself what forms and paperwork can I

exterminate? Here are other vampire functions to

consider:

� Waste and rework

� Steps and tasks not

adding value to the process

� Unnecessary meetings

� Counting things that

don't need counting

� Completing reports that

no one looks at

� Filing reports no one

will ever look at

� People doing the same

thing in different departments

Vampire Extermination

Expedition Team

The only good vampire is a

dead vampire. I know several businesses that took my

advice and created their own Vampire Extermination

Expedition team. They took a negative situation and put a

humorous spin on it. Here is how it works.

1. Select about 6 team

members from the organization. Try to get volunteers-they

are more motivated. They should come from different

departments. Run the expedition for no longer than 3

weeks each year.

2. Create a vampire

extermination nomination form and pass out to all

employees.

3. Inform the organization

and have all employees nominate their

"vampires." Make sure you first let everyone

know their job is not in jeopardy; otherwise, they will

not tell you what you need to know. Unless they trust you

they will protect their job.

4. Instantly trade their

nomination forms with a coffee cup, $5.00 or other form

of recognition. Have a random drawing or a contest for

the biggest (most wasteful function) vampire.

5. Have the team evaluate

all nominations and decide what needs to be exterminated,

changed or revised.

6. Inform the organization

of what is exterminated or what is revised. Calculate the

savings generated from the exterminated functions.

7. Have a ceremonial burial

of all the exterminated vampire functions. Make it

fun-have a celebration.

There are a few critical

steps left off on this process, but most importantly,

insure you do this in a fun and light-hearted manner or

it will fail and even possibly backfire. Most people will

respond favorably to this. The key is to make it short

term, high intensity and "encourage" everyone

to participate. If you like my company to help you run

your own Vampire Extermination Expedition, please call us

at 800-821-2487.

Gregory P. Smith, author of

The New Leader, and How to Attract, Keep and Motivate

Your Workforce. He speaks at conferences, leads seminars

and helps organizations solve problems. He leads an

organization called Chart Your Course International

located in Conyers, Georgia. Phone him at (770)860-9464

or send an email at [email protected] . More information and articles are

available at www.chartcourse.com .