What America could learn from Malta: the work will get done
When it comes to getting things done, the United States has a reputation that is tough to dispute. When the giant eagle unfurls her wings and sets her mind on a target, nothing is unattainable. Defending the world from Nazis? Done. Putting men on the moon? Done. Creating an entertainment industry that threatens to steamroll all other cultures? Done. The U.S. is known to be described in superlatives.
The question that should bother Americans is just what those superlatives are today: most hectic, least family friendly, sickliest, most stressed out, most afraid, most dangerous… While the American Dream may still be a part of the U.S. mystique, the terrible price that Americans have to pay for it is often overlooked, as is the very few who actually achieve that dream.
In our nation’s helter skelter pace that often puts looking busy above actual accomplishment, we fail to realize the one fundamental truth – unless we are actually doing things, we are not accomplishing anything no matter how fast we move.
Malta offers a different view of what we could have if we so chose. Here people do their jobs in the time that they are given. They move from task to task in a way that may seem slow by American standards, but in a way that also gets things done. The people are pleasant to one another. They participate in the small talk that most Americans eschew as time-wasting, and they get their jobs done.
The guy at the photocopy place has one photocopier, and he takes payments for the university and prints items from thumb drives. With 15 other people forming a line behind me, and the thirty pages of my passport needing to be photocopied, he wasn’t harried or hurried. He even took the time to make sure that he got all of the pages. In America, I would have had to leave the photocopy job and come back later (considering it was my passport, I would have been loath to do), or I would have had to do the job myself, which employs no one and allow the photocopy business to profit off my own work while touting access as convenience.
There are many jobs that take as long as they take, and no amount of foot tapping, sighing or watch glancing will speed them up. As long as everyone gets the same service, and the service is good, there should be no concern when an employee seems to be happy and relaxed while he or she is doing his or her job.
Malta has shown me that things will get done in their own due course. We can fret and run around and stomp our feet, but in the end, that doesn’t help anyone, and it doesn’t get the job done faster. While America beats efficiency into the ground and people along with it, it is important to remember that people are innately inefficient, and that is sometimes the key to getting things done well, especially when doing it well means taking the person into account and not just the job – on either side of the counter.
The question that should bother Americans is just what those superlatives are today: most hectic, least family friendly, sickliest, most stressed out, most afraid, most dangerous… While the American Dream may still be a part of the U.S. mystique, the terrible price that Americans have to pay for it is often overlooked, as is the very few who actually achieve that dream.
In our nation’s helter skelter pace that often puts looking busy above actual accomplishment, we fail to realize the one fundamental truth – unless we are actually doing things, we are not accomplishing anything no matter how fast we move.
Malta offers a different view of what we could have if we so chose. Here people do their jobs in the time that they are given. They move from task to task in a way that may seem slow by American standards, but in a way that also gets things done. The people are pleasant to one another. They participate in the small talk that most Americans eschew as time-wasting, and they get their jobs done.
The guy at the photocopy place has one photocopier, and he takes payments for the university and prints items from thumb drives. With 15 other people forming a line behind me, and the thirty pages of my passport needing to be photocopied, he wasn’t harried or hurried. He even took the time to make sure that he got all of the pages. In America, I would have had to leave the photocopy job and come back later (considering it was my passport, I would have been loath to do), or I would have had to do the job myself, which employs no one and allow the photocopy business to profit off my own work while touting access as convenience.
There are many jobs that take as long as they take, and no amount of foot tapping, sighing or watch glancing will speed them up. As long as everyone gets the same service, and the service is good, there should be no concern when an employee seems to be happy and relaxed while he or she is doing his or her job.
Malta has shown me that things will get done in their own due course. We can fret and run around and stomp our feet, but in the end, that doesn’t help anyone, and it doesn’t get the job done faster. While America beats efficiency into the ground and people along with it, it is important to remember that people are innately inefficient, and that is sometimes the key to getting things done well, especially when doing it well means taking the person into account and not just the job – on either side of the counter.