2 large pizzas for productivity
To get your job done get your workforce 2 pizzas. Well not literally.
While browsing through the KoolKanya platform, I came across a post. It spoke about the ‘2 pizza rule’ and was posted by a platform user. And the first thought that ran across my mind is, ‘Oh to get work done employers treat the employees with pizza. What a brilliant strategy. A happy tummy for a productive workplace.’
However, giving it an in-depth read, threw light on an amazing workplace technique. A technique followed by the Founder of Amazon- Jeff Bezos. He claims that a team should only consist of people that can be fed by 2 large pizzas. If any more then the team isn’t just doing right.
The 2 pizza rule thus is a guideline to the perfect team. With this rule, teams can dynamically eliminate the action of ‘groupthink’. Group thinking occurs when large groups support a point that overrides singular individual opinions. Thus the idea goes unnoticed. And growth gets stagnant.
With this change, the team is open to new ideas, changes that need to be implemented and amendments to the functioning schedule.
With strict adherence to the 2 pizza rule, Jeff states that teams can effectively pitch in ideas and encourage a decentralized working atmosphere in the work office. An idea that is followed at Amazon. (And well we know where Amazon is today!!)
Harvard researcher, J. Richard Hackman who has invested 50 years in understanding productivity & communication in workplaces confirms the same. ‘An effective team would have 4–6 team members that result in optimal work.’
Backed by data, Hackman also portrays that any team consisting of individuals above the optimal range end in continual miscommunication, lack efficient work & miss deadlines. However he also clearly states that huge teams can be divided into smaller teams and assigned with specific work.
Ex. The Content Creation team that has 50 members can be divided into 10 groups of 5 each. That are specifically handling print content, digital marketing, advertising, social media content, branding & campaigns, research & competition analysis and more. Thus growing together as a small team and as a whole.
So if your team isn’t that effective & productive enough, maybe it’s time to get 2 large pizzas and see the difference!!
