INTHEBLACK July/August 2023 - Magazine - Page 59
“In a rapidly changing business environment, leaning too heavily on BAU
activities could be positioned as advocating for the status quo, leading to a
lack of willingness to take risks or try new things. It suggests resistance to
change and a reluctance to innovate or address burning issues.”
MICHELLE GIBBINGS, WORKPLACE EXPERT
“It is important to use the term carefully
and be super mindful of its implications.”
The lesson here is that so-called BAU
activities contribute to a firm’s ability to be
efficient and effective. They should not be
devalued, and the language applied to these
tasks is an important part of this.
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
BAU activities cover an organisation’s routine,
day-to-day operations. These are tasks that
are crucial to the organisation’s daily workings,
even if they may be repetitive or boring.
BAU tasks are often cost centres, rather
than revenue centres – think staff rostering,
monthly reporting, receiving deliverables
and stock management.
Other examples include conducting regular
meetings with team members or clients,
processing payroll and other administrative
tasks, responding to customer inquiries
or complaints, bookkeeping and accounts
payable processes, preparing budgets and
financial statements, and so on.
Equating these essential activities with
drudgery diminishes their importance. After
all, such activities serve a vital purpose –
maintaining stability and containing costs.
They also contribute in other ways.
Workplace expert Michelle Gibbings says,
“These routine operations are an essential
foundation for new initiatives and projects”.
This is because having a strong foundation
of the basics frees up time and mental energy,
enabling people to work on new ideas and be
more creative and innovative.
STRIKE THE RIGHT BALANCE
To be successful, both businesses and
individuals need to strike a balance between
BAU and innovation. This is because
overfocusing on BAU risks creating an
environment of boredom and complacency.
Emily Johnson, principal psychologist and
co-founder of workplace mental health firm
Get Mentally Fit, says, “Staff may be bogged
down in operational tasks, which is working in
the business, and have no time for strategic
tasks, which is working on the business”.
Too much emphasis on BAU tasks could
also stifle experimentation and risk-taking,
resulting in missed opportunities for growth
and improvement.
Gibbings adds, “In a rapidly changing
business environment, leaning too heavily
on BAU activities could be positioned as
advocating for the status quo, leading
to a lack of willingness to take risks or try
new things. It suggests resistance to change
and a reluctance to innovate or address
burning issues”.
MIND WHAT YOU SAY
For leaders, being mindful about how they use
language is an essential requirement. Team
members respond better when leaders use
communication techniques such as positive
reinforcement and reflective listening.
Conversely, using vague, dismissive or
abrupt language is a suboptimal way to
manage team members.
When it comes to business as usual, there
are plenty of terms and phrases that do
not carry the same value judgement, such
as “essential business processes” or “core
operational tasks”.
Beyond BAU, it is good practice to check
in with team members when planning a new
business activity or project, being aware
that expressions like “this should not take
you long” may diminish a task’s significance
and complexity.
A better approach would be to outline the
task and the steps needed to complete it,
suggest a deadline for completion, then work
with the team to assess how realistic it is and
how it will affect BAU.
It is important to give staff an opportunity
to make suggestions if they believe there is a
better way to do the task, or to ask for more
time if required.
This approach helps everyone on the team,
and the wider business, to develop a shared
understanding of what needs to be done, why
and when.
The result should be higher morale, a more
engaged workforce and better performance
over time for both new projects and BAU.
READ
an INTHEBLACK
article on goal
congruence
LISTEN
to an INTHEBLACK
podcast with
Daniel Pink on
smart workplace
behaviours
intheblack.cpaaustralia.com.au 59
