Avoiding Tolls
Why focusing on just avoiding tolls may miss something important.
Nearly every morning, I say "Good Morning, Alexa" to activate a custom routine I built that allows Alexa to help kick-start my morning. In response to my prompt, she:
-Wishes me "Good Morning"
-Tells me the time and date
-Outlines the events on my calendar
-Provides me the weather forecast
-Tells me how long my drive to the office will take
-Plays top news stories and headlines
It's a nice way to get myself prepared for the day ahead - but this morning something struck me during Alexa's traffic report. She said something to the effect of "The fastest route is XXXXXX and will take XX minutes. This route avoids tolls."
I've probably heard the "This route avoids tolls" line hundreds of times, but this morning it got me thinking: Not all tolls are monetary.
Some tolls are paid in time - inefficient processes or unnecessary steps can slow down work. Not in dollars, but a cost nonetheless.
Some tolls are paid in effort - asking people to lean in with additional and/or discretionary effort can be warranted. But, when compounded over time, can lead to a constant state of "working harder, not smarter". Additionally, systems or processes that require much more effort to navigate than they should create real costs each time they are needed.
Some tolls are paid by your customers - anything that shifts costs (time, effort, etc) from you to your customers (although often significantly diluted) will have a cost.
Some tolls are paid with trust - proceeding with actions that don't match your words may get you there faster, but the long-term cost is steep (both internally and externally).
So the question is: How often, when we're planning work or projects, do we focus on avoiding the obvious tolls - while paying little to no attention on the other types of tolls?
And the follow-up is obvious: What non-monetary tolls should you spend more time considering and, when warranted, taking steps to reduce?
Thanks for spending time with me in my workshop,
Eric
