Beyond Adding: The Strategic Value of Subtracting

I was recently reflecting on the fact that in all my years in higher education and sitting through many (too many to count) strategic planning and budget meetings, we seldom considered what we could subtract from our activities, focusing only what we wanted to maintain and what to add. The conversations were typically focused on expanding – adding more programs, more outreach, more partnerships, more services, more committees – all demanding additional human and financial resources that were either in short supply or never enough to address all the new requests. The result was that we did add new initiatives or projects, only to pile them onto our already full plate without ever reflecting on what we could subtract.

Subtraction (no matter how minor or significant) tends to come up only when we’re forced to cut back due to a resource crisis (time or financial), and in that context, the reaction is often defensive and fraught with resistance. If we change our thinking about subtraction so it becomes a normative part of our discourse, we can embrace it as an opportunity to streamline, focus, and strengthen our institutions – a positive move to free up and redirect resources for current projects or new initiatives. But for organizations and individuals to adopt a different mindset about subtraction isn’t easy. We seem to be wired to “add”. I don’t know about you, but I am not great at subtracting as I often overestimate my ability to take on more projects and underestimate the impact of constantly adding more on my plate.

Here’s a great discussion about subtraction that got me thinking about the concept and how we can help our organizations and colleagues see subtraction as a positive strategy. I’d love to hear what you think!

Hidden Brain Podcast, Innovation 2.0: Do Less