Something happens on teams when efficiency wins every argument.
It doesn’t happen in a single meeting or a single decision. It happens slowly, in the accumulation of a hundred small moments where the person who cares most about the work learns that there are organizational priorities that are more important.
I’ve been thinking about this a bit as I’ve been preparing several speaking engagements for clients over the past few weeks. (It’s also why I’ve decided to bring back the Herding Tigers podcast. More on that below.)
In a recent email, I wrote about how everyone on your team is optimizing for something, whether stability, autonomy, recognition, craft, or efficiency. The tensions between those drives are one of the most overlooked sources of friction in our organizations.
But there’s one tension in particular that I think leaders consistently mismanage: craft.
You probably have someone on your team who optimizes for craft. They want one more pass at the design, or one more round of feedback on the copy. They push back on timelines not because they’re precious, but because the quality of the work is the thing that makes the work worth doing.
And many (most?) organizations are optimizing for efficiency. You need to ship. You need to move fast. You’re measured on throughput and velocity, not on whether the deck could have been 10% stronger.
So you override them. You say “good enough.” You ship.
Here’s what that efficiency-focused decision just unintentionally communicated: your standards probably don’t belong here.
The first time, they probably just absorb it. The second time, they adjust. By the tenth time, they may have stopped bringing their best judgment to the table entirely.
Why fight for making the work better if the answer is always going to be “we don’t have time for that”?
This is how efficiency culture quietly undermines craft. It’s not with a dramatic moment, but with a slow erosion of the belief that standards matter.
Here’s what we can do:
Name the trade-off explicitly. When you have to prioritize speed over quality, say so out loud and acknowledge the cost. “We’re going to ship this knowing it’s not where we’d ideally want it. I want you to know I see the difference, even if we can’t close the gap this time.” It tells your craft-oriented team members that the standard still exists, even when you can’t meet it.
Create protected space for craft. You don’t have to choose between efficiency and quality across the board. But you do need to be intentional about where quality is non-negotiable. Which projects get the extra pass? Which deadlines are real and which are negotiable? When leaders never answer those questions, efficiency wins by default.
Ask craft-oriented people what they need to feel proud of the work. Not “what do you need to finish,” but “what would it take for you to feel like we did justice to this project?” You won’t always be able to give them what they want, but the act of asking tells them you still value their perspective.
The goal isn’t to let perfect be the enemy of good. Rather, it’s to make sure you haven’t accidentally made “fast” the enemy of “worth doing.”
What signal might you sending your craft-oriented team members, and is it the one you intend?
P.S. If you lead a creative team and you’re not already listening to the Herding Tigers podcast, this week is a great time to start. The new episode is out now wherever you get your podcasts.
Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts (or wherever you get your shows)
