The 6E formula - for people and organisation
On the question of success. How central is success to you? How do you define it? With the ability to find an adequate way of dealing with the flood of current information, it becomes apparent that six "E's" can be read almost synonymously and yet be considered independently.
The graphic of the 6E formula shown opposite is reminiscent of the familiar, analogue testing of vision at the ophthalmologist. For its measurability, "E's" are used whose opening direction is visualized in ever smaller sizes, which the test subjects are then supposed to recognize. This so-called contrast vision is central for the clear recognition and assignment of objects and shapes. The human visual system only perceives objects if they have a certain size and a clear contrast to their surroundings.
The six parameters of the 6E formula
The maxim that central decision-making processes are relevant for intended efficiency and effectiveness was born early on in our work - the process support of organisations and people (cf. the 3E formula, Quintessence Quality, 2017). If you want to be as efficient and effective as possible, you have to make the appropriate decisions upstream. This in particular is not always easy. Often you have a goal in mind and ideally you have both defined and communicated it. But there is a lack of corresponding implementation power. We are convinced that the lack of implementation power is valuable information that must be taken into account and integrated.
If we continue our considerations, not only efficiency and effectiveness arise from the decisions made, but ideally also the desired and intended knowledge, development and success. Thus, the 3E-formula (decisions lead to efficiency and effectiveness) evolved into the 6E-formula.
The 6E's summarized
- Efficiency - Doing things effectively. Efficient actions are those that bring a company as much return as possible for as little effort as possible within a sensibly defined period of time. The focus is on optimising expenditure: we decide on efficient actions - expenditure and return are optimally coordinated.
- Effectiveness - Doing the effective things. If we take into account the effect an action can have for a person or for an organisation, it becomes clear how central it is to carefully weigh up effects according to their manageability and to plan corresponding steps. This in turn leads to more awareness of what we do when and how. Effectively, it also pays to be flexible with regard to the goal. Long-term goals can change due to external and internal factors. This refers to resources that are subject to change, and the ability and skill to remain attentive to these changes, to take them into account, becomes correspondingly important, so that the goal setting already has a corresponding reference to reality.
"Success defines a snapshot in our culture."
- Decision - The conscious choice of possible actions. The actual decision is always based - consciously as well as unconsciously - on a decision-making process. If this happens consciously, intended options for action are evaluated on the basis of facts. If a need for a decision is then determined, the research of suitable alternative solutions begins and their possible consequences are analysed and assessed. The weighing of alternatives is always done with regard to the defined goal. The actual consequences of the decision can be used at a later point in time as a measure of success, as an insight into the decision made, and thus trigger possible revisions. The central point is to get into action.
- Cognition - knowledge gained from processes of insight and experience. Cognition can be described as the process and result of knowledge gained through insight or experience. We at Quintessence-Quality are of the opinion that if the upstream steps have been carried out with a high degree of care, significant and groundbreaking insights emerge through dialogue. An insight thrives, it grows.
- Development - process of growth, change, maturation and learning. Development is understood here as a general process of emergence, growth, change, decay and learning. This "E" is also regarded as a central element that makes unconscious processes conscious and thus nameable or comprehensible. This in turn allows us to influence both individual and collective development.
- Success - The achievement of set goals. In our understanding and in this context, success opens up the view that a need or a want has been satisfied - generated by one's own or collective action (in society, in the company, in the team). In our culture, success defines a snapshot - a milestone - which is therefore limited in time in its blossoming. Regardless of whether the success achieved is the attainment of objective, material, relationally motivated and emotional goals.
The interaction of the 6E's
For effective and efficient decisions, empowering and transferring personal responsibility to employees is an indispensable component. A decision can not only be made by the company, but also by each person involved. To align one's own, self-responsible actions with correct decisions, effectiveness and efficiency, guarantees lasting private, professional as well as entrepreneurial knowledge, development and success. The most effective actions are not always efficient and vice versa. We distance ourselves from the omnipresent idea of self-optimization and do not only appreciate success in our work. Every "E" deserves recognition. And depending on knowledge and goal, effectiveness or efficiency may be prioritized in the decision. A company or an individual can basically learn from past actions and thus arrive at new, possibly unusual "E's".
