Michael Goshka, CEO of Planfix, a SaaS platform that cuts costs, reduces errors and automates workflows for smarter business operations.
As the CEO of a rapidly growing SaaS startup, I’ve learned that achieving true business efficiency takes more than just a passing effort. Reaching the top of the productivity mountain often requires shaking off old habits and embracing some pretty unconventional thinking.
Despite the countless productivity tools available today, many teams continue to struggle with disengagement and inefficiencies. Indeed, Gallup found that only 21% of employees surveyed feel genuinely engaged in their work. Researchers estimated that this lack of commitment cost the global economy a staggering $438 billion in lost productivity in 2024. These eye-opening statistics pushed me to completely rethink our approach at my startup. Before long, I found myself experimenting with a number of alternative strategies. Here’s what worked:
Building Antifragility
One of my favorite concepts is “antifragility.” This is the idea that certain systems actually become stronger when exposed to stress. So, rather than trying to eliminate all risks, I introduced controlled disruptions into our workflows. Some prime examples include simulated service outages and unexpected resource constraints. These “fire drills” have proven incredibly effective at revealing weak spots and enhancing our team’s ability to cope under pressure. I see it as akin to vaccination: Small doses of controlled chaos today prevent significant breakdowns tomorrow.
Challenging The Sacred Cows
Early in our journey, I noticed that my team had a distinct tendency to protect certain legacy processes. Personally, I like to call these our “sacred cows.” Inspired by bold industry examples like Apple’s removal of the headphone jack and Amazon’s checkout-free stores, I encouraged my team to consistently question company traditions that we had previously treated as sacrosanct. By asking questions like, “Do we really need that weekly two-hour meeting?” We suddenly found ourselves able to eliminate practices that were silently hindering our productivity. This, in turn, created room for genuine innovation.
Gamifying The Everyday
To keep my team motivated, I turned routine tasks into games. For example, I introduced leaderboards and offered small rewards like digital badges or coffee vouchers for team members who accomplished certain goals. I also initiated weekly “team shoutouts,” which served to make work feel less monotonous and more engaging. The result? A dramatic lift in team spirit.
No-Meeting Days
Another significant productivity booster came when we adopted “no-meeting days.” Recognizing that constant meetings fragment attention and reduce productivity, we designated Wednesdays as completely meeting-free. This decision was directly inspired by MIT Sloan’s research (paywall) that showed how meeting-free days can enhance productivity by up to 71%. True to their findings, my team saw immediate benefits. Engineers dove deeply into problem-solving and marketers crafted strategies uninterrupted.
Rethinking Outsourcing And Mentorship
We also ventured beyond traditional outsourcing practices, delegating HR analytics and office operations to external experts. Letting third-party providers manage internal surveys allowed our HR team to act on insights directly rather than just gather data, significantly boosting efficiency. We coupled these efforts with a concept called “reverse mentorship.” In most business environments, senior executives mentor younger staff. However, we reversed this model. This meant that junior employees were suddenly mentoring senior members on emerging technologies, which helped to dramatically accelerate innovation while fostering mutual respect.
Simplifying Metrics
In a world saturated with metrics, we decided to simplify our focus onto one concise dashboard that the entire team could check every single morning. This minimalist view served to align everyone’s efforts and remove unnecessary details that cluttered our workdays. By aligning Parkinson’s Law, where tasks expand to fill allotted time, we were able to set much tighter deadlines, dramatically boosting productivity without sacrificing quality. By working within these shorter timelines, we not only forced sharper prioritization but also reduced overthinking.
Shadow Teams And AI Innovations
One of the most important aspects of our new approach was continuous innovation. Keeping this in mind, we created small, experimental “shadow teams” parallel to our main operations. These teams essentially acted like internal startups—places where we could safely test bold ideas, stimulate creativity and uncover unexpectedly successful solutions. In this push for maximum innovation, artificial intelligence became an essential teammate. Beyond typical chatbots and analytics, we utilized AI for things like customer sentiment analysis, predictive employee engagement modeling and drafting internal reports. These AI-driven initiatives ended up reducing repeat customer inquiries by 30% and slashing report preparation time by 20%.
So, what did all of this teach me? Above all, I’ve learned that efficiency isn’t about working harder but smarter and differently. Our company’s breakthroughs didn’t come solely from new software but from developing the will to challenge ingrained habits and experiment, sometimes in bold, new ways. My advice? Pick just one of these unconventional strategies and test it this month. I think you’ll see how much of a difference breaking old habits can make.
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