Robin Schooling

Rethinking Workplace Productivity: The Ingenuity-to-Bullshit Ratio

I have long loved the phrase “ratio of ingenuity to bullshit” but for the life of me couldn’t recall where I first heard it. Then, the other day, I found the source where, I am quite certain, I first became familiar with this glorious phrase. In “Why Do Corporations Speak the Way They Do?”, Molly Young skewers the self-importance and nonsense of everyday work environments through a piercing look at the language we use in our jobs and corporations. This article (from 2020) is a classic!

The phrase stuck with me over the years not just because it’s punchy, but because it nails a fundamental truth about how modern work often feels. Once you start noticing the ratio, you see it everywhere. Truly. Everywhere!

If there were a dashboard for how work feels, most modern organizations would be flashing a warning light next to one critical metric: the ingenuity-to-bullshit ratio.

It’s a simple diagnostic of workplace productivity: how much of your workday is spent doing something useful, creative, or genuinely problem-solving – and how much is spent spinning in circles, attending meetings that could have been an email, or refining a presentation no one will read past slide 7?

When the ratio tips toward bullshit, the whole system suffers. Innovation slows. People disengage. And leaders start to wonder why no one seems particularly “bought in” anymore.

What Is the Ingenuity-to-Bullshit Ratio?

It’s not in the org chart or your HRIS system, but it’s there – lurking in the background of every project, meeting, and initiative. The ingenuity-to-bullshit ratio is the unspoken measure of whether your workplace is actually moving forward or just making a lot of noise while standing still.

Here’s a quick diagnostic. If any of these sound familiar, your ratio might be off-kilter:

You’ve updated the branding deck five times and still haven’t talked to a customer. Your focus is on aesthetics over substance. If no one in the room has validated the message with a real user or client, then you’re probably polishing something no one asked for.
The kickoff meeting has three pre-meetings and a working session. You’re stuck in planning purgatory. When the act of organizing the work overshadows doing the work, the ratio is leaning in the wrong direction.
The idea that got watered down in committee is now a 47-slide PowerPoint. Original thinking got stripped for safety. If every bold idea is softened until it resembles corporate oatmeal, your ingenuity is being filtered through too many layers.
You spent an entire week building a report that no one asked about until it landed in their inbox. This is merely work for the sake of visibility or proof. If output is valued more than outcome, you’re firmly in BS territory.

Why This Ratio Matters

God knows we love a good metric: revenue per head, ROI on a software investment, and utilization rates set our hearts a flutter. But the ingenuity-to-bullshit ratio might tell you more about your long-term viability than any other measurement.

Why? Because ingenuity is what fuels momentum. It’s what helps teams solve problems, adapt to change, and actually enjoy their work. On the flip side, bullshit – the status-posting, meeting-looping, jargon-slinging kind – drains energy. It creates drag. It makes people feel like the work is happening around them instead of with them.

The ratio is a culture check. It tells you whether people are empowered to create or conditioned to comply.

What Does it Look Like?

Obviously no one sets out to build a workplace that prioritizes noise over progress – but it happens. We all start with the best of intentions, but slowly, subtly, and before you know it, your team is drowning in process, posturing, and phoniness – and wondering why nothing actually gets done.

This manifests as:

Innovation Theater. The company talks a big game about being “disruptive” or “transformative,” but what you really get is endless idea sessions, elaborate internal branding, and a total lack of execution. Everyone yearns to be seen as forward-thinking, but there’s little appetite for risk – or results.
Over-Process-ification. There’s a difference between helpful structure and procedural quicksand. When every decision requires layers of approval, workflow charts, and a SharePoint page, people start spending more time feeding the system than solving actual problems.
Executive Posturing. Leaders, disconnected from what teams actually need or what’s practical, drops buzzwords and mandates from above. Initiatives get assigned without context or support, creating a facade of momentum yet execution quietly grinds to a halt.
Perfectionism Masquerading as Strategy. Fear of failure gets dressed up as “planning” and endless revisions, tweaks, and hypotheticals stall real action. Ingenuity doesn’t require chaos, but it does require the freedom to move before everything is flawless.

Real Work Looks Different

In workplaces where ingenuity wins out, the experience of getting things done feels smoother, clearer, and oddly satisfying. These aren’t places where busyness is confused with value. These are environments where actual progress takes priority over polished optics.

Simplicity is a strength. The best teams know how to get to the point. They strip away fluff, use language that means something, and make decisions without a need for theatrics. They focus on clarity over cleverness – and it shows in their outcomes.
Proximity to the problem. The people closest to the challenge are given the autonomy to solve it. They don’t have to escalate or translate for five layers of leadership. When real-time knowledge is trusted more than hierarchy, things get done faster – and often better.
Experimentation is safe. Ideas don’t have to be perfect to be heard. When teams are allowed to pilot, iterate, and refine in public, innovation actually happens. You create space for ingenuity to emerge, instead of smothering it under premature polish.
Progress over polish. Work is measured by movement, not by slide design or committee consensus. A scrappy prototype that solves a pain point is more valuable than a high-gloss pitch deck that goes nowhere. The smartest teams reward momentum.

How to Rebalance the Ratio

Rebalancing the ratio doesn’t require a full-scale transformation – it just requires intention. The good news is, you don’t need a new strategy deck (hallelujah!!) or a consultant to get started. You need to start noticing where ingenuity is being squeezed out – and make small, deliberate moves to let it back in.

Audit your own calendar. How much of your time is spent creating vs. curating? If your schedule is packed with internal check-ins and prep meetings, it’s a red flag. Realign your time with your priorities.
Ask your team: Where are we stuck? And then listen. Sometimes it’s process. Sometimes it’s people. Sometimes it’s a policy that no longer makes sense. But if you don’t ask, you’ll never know.
Challenge your sacred cows. That weekly update no one reads? Kill it. That tool that slows everyone down? Replace it. Cultural inertia is real, and rebalancing the ratio means rethinking “how we’ve always done it.”
Celebrate the useful, not the shiny. When someone fixes a long-broken system or saves their team hours of work, shout it out. Rewarding practicality helps reset the incentive structure and recalibrates what gets noticed.

The ingenuity-to-bullshit ratio isn’t just a cheeky phrase. It’s a mirror. And once you start using it, you can’t unsee it.

The good news? It’s a ratio you can control. And the more you shift it, the more the work … actually works.

From Sparkling Wine to Sinking Morale: People Management on Below Deck

If you’ve watched even ten minutes of Below Deck, you already know: the yacht is immaculate, the guests are demanding, and the crew? Impossibly attractive and gloriously messy human beings wearing hideous polo shirts.

While there’s service with a smile above deck, there is often absolute HR chaos below. From passive-aggressive comments to autocrat-in-training department heads to non-existent performance feedback to love triangles that double as HR case studies, Below Deck delivers a front-row seat to what happens when workplace dysfunction is confined to a floating Petri dish.

I love this show.

After watching every single episode of every single season of every single iteration (Below Deck: Below Deck Mediterranean; Below Deck Sailing Yacht; Below Deck Adventure; and Below Deck Down Under), I can comfortably tell you that (a) I would never be able to do these jobs (b) far too many guests seem impossible to please, and (c) I would undoubtedly die if I tried to keep up with the crew on a “night out.”

And, of course, this show speaks to my HR soul. This is “work on steroids.” It’s a place where every co-worker quirk is magnified, and every disagreement is amplified.

You bet there are workplace lesson. To wit:

Harassment Doesn’t Go Away Just Because the View is Pretty

Unaddressed harassment has been one of the most consistent and unsettling threads in the Below Deck universe. Creepy comments, inappropriate touching, crossed boundaries – mostly downplayed, tolerated, or brushed off over the years.

On a yacht, there’s nowhere to hide. The galley kitchen doesn’t come with an HR rep in a blazer. When issues go unaddressed, resentment doesn’t dissipate. It simmers. And, eventually, it blows up.

On Below Deck this type of behavior was minimized for far too long until an episode of Below Deck Down Under in 2023 when two cast members (one male; one female) were removed from the boat (after a drunken “night out” naturally) and fired from the show for two separate and distinct episodes of attempted sexual assault. Kudos, in this case, to the show’s producers as well as Chief Stew Aesha and Captain Jason. Great recap here.

Performance Management: Laundry is Not a Career Path

One of the more infuriating patterns on the yacht? When someone excels in one area (i.e. night watch or laundry) and is quietly kept there for the rest of the season. Not because they want to stay, but because it’s convenient for the department head. “She’s so good at it!” the Chief Stew says, while that stew silently dies inside folding the same towel for the 97th time.

Performance management isn’t about keeping people in the box where they make your life as the manager easiest. It’s about creating space for growth – even if that means someone who’s crushing laundry wants to try service, pour wine without panic, or finally learn how to make an espresso martini.

If your idea of management is offering a patronizing compliment and calling it development, don’t be surprised when your best people stop raising their hands. Or worse – stop caring altogether.

Conflict Resolution Isn’t Just Who Yells First

Conflict resolution on the boat usually follows this arc: simmering tension, a passive-aggressive snark, an explosive dinner off-the-boat, and someone sobbing into a pillow in a bunk bed.

Living, working, eating, and (let’s be honest) sometimes sleeping with your co-workers makes escaping drama nearly impossible. But that doesn’t mean it should be unmanaged.

Good conflict resolution is proactive, not reactive. It’s structured check-ins, open communication, and clear expectations – not just hoping the Chef and the Bosun stop glaring at each other mid-charter.

The Magic of Knowing Your Job – and Helping Anyway

Here’s what does work on the yacht: everyone knows their role. There’s a clear chain of command. But when it’s time to turn the boat, prep dinner, or launch water toys, most crew members pitch in – even if it’s “not their department.”

That cross-functional hustle? That’s gold.

What makes it possible is role clarity. When everyone knows their responsibilities and respects the flow of work across teams, it creates a culture where collaboration can thrive without chaos.

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So yes, Below Deck is a reality show – equal parts lovely human specimens, semi-regular nudity, and a window into the whims of the ultra-wealthy.

But it’s also a floating masterclass in what happens when the basics of people management go ignored. Even at sea, structure, accountability, and a little HR-scented common sense are the only things keeping the whole operation from drifting into full-on chaos.

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image: Below Deck Down Under | Bravo

Honesty in Hiring: Why Are We All Still Faking It?

Let’s be honest. About honesty.

We often say we want hiring transparency … throughout the entire hiring process! To align with our promoted cultures where people can “bring their whole selves to work,” and our CEOs “tell it like it is,” we like to think we can incorporate these same vibes into our hiring process. “We’ll be authentic and encourage our hiring managers to have ‘real’ conversations!”

We are completely delusional.

More often than not, what we get is something closer to a stage play – polished lines, rehearsed gestures, and a shared willingness to suspend disbelief for just long enough to make the offer (or take the job).

It’s corporate commedia dell’arte. Everyone (the recruiter, the hiring manager, the hopeful candidate) plays a well-defined character/persona/role. We’re not always sure of our lines, but we know the beats of the performance. And yes, there’s a bit of improvisation.

And a whole lot of fibbing.

Lies Recruiters Tell (Yes, Even the “Good” Ones)

It’s not always malicious – but it is performative. Recruiters/HR folks fudge the truth for all kinds of reasons: to keep the process moving, to sell the role, to avoid awkward conversations.

Common hits include:

“We anticipate paying at the higher end of the posted salary range.” (Highly doubtful, this hiring manager brings everyone in at the minimum).

“We’ll keep you in mind for other positions.” (No we won’t. Once we’re done with this interview, I will never think about you again.)

“Our culture is collaborative, innovative, and empowering.” (It’s chaotic, under-resourced, and the boss is an a-hole.)

Recruiters aren’t trying to be villains. But when they’re caught between the candidate and an unmovable hiring manager, the temptation to “edit for clarity” is real.

But candidates aren’t innocent either.

Lies Candidates Tell (and Why They Make Sense)

Candidates are performing too. Sometimes out of desperation. Sometimes out of strategy. Sometimes because they’ve been coached to “spin” rather than disclose. They like to give us:

Inflated job titles or responsibilities

Fuzzy explanations for leaving a previous role

“I’m looking for a new challenge.” (Translation: “My last job broke me.”)

“I’m very aligned with your values and mission!” (“Frankly, I just need a paycheck.”)

No one, really, is shocked by ANY of this. A resume is a marketing document. A recruiter pitch is too. The idea that either side is being 100% transparent from the jump? That’s… naive.

So, How Do We Fix It?

A trust issue won’t be solved by another tool or a new ATS plugin. It gets better when we start acting like adults who understand that work is unscripted, humans are complicated, and not everything needs to be polished to perfection to be worthwhile.

We fix it when we decide it’s time to stop playing “acting” as if we’re in the local community theatre’s production of “The Importance of Being Earnest.”

Start with this: tell the truth. As a recruiter, make it a personal vow. Be honest about comp ranges, hiring timelines, the boss’s communication style, and whether or not there’s a chance of hybrid work (or not). If your company is mid-chaos but making progress? Say that. People can handle more than we give them credit for.

And on the candidate side? Don’t over rehearse; be yourself. And ask better questions. Don’t just ask the hiring manager “Tell me about the culture,” but instead ask “Everyone experiences frustrations at work – what are the top three frustrations your team deals with regularly?” That one reveals a lot – and can nudge the conversation into something real.

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Honesty in hiring can happen when we go beyond what’s listed on a resume – or in a job posting. Just as both sides need to do some vetting and dig deep to uncover the truth, they also need to take responsibility for telling it.

Employers should use thoughtful, fair, and compliant tools and assessments to understand how someone thinks, adapts, solves problems, and works with others. And candidates? They need to move past vague culture claims and probe for answers about how the team communicates, where past hires have stumbled, and what actually gets rewarded day to day.

Hiring is human. And when both sides are willing to show up a little less rehearsed, we may get closer to something that feels like true alignment. Better hiring is built on trust, clarity, and the willingness to get a little honest before anyone signs on the dotted line.

And that? Worth way more than a well-rehearsed pitch-perfect answer.

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HR Technology Adoption isn’t a Tech Issue. It’s a People Issue.

I’m not a cat person. I’ve lived with a few, sure. But if I’m choosing, I’ll take a dog any day of the week. Dogs, for the most part, listen, adapt to change, and respond well to training. They’re eager to engage and excited when you walk in the room. Cats? They observe. They decide. They comply if and when it suits them. They’re independent and largely unbothered by your goals for the day.

In HR, when we roll out a new system – a fresh HCM platform, self-service onboarding, digital performance management – we often want dog-like behavior. We expect users to jump in (eagerly!), learn quickly, and adjust their workflows accordingly. But what we frequently get is cat energy: cautious observation, minimal engagement, and a sense of “I’ll get to it when I feel like it.”

If we don’t plan for that gap in behavior, if we don’t anticipate the human variables in tech adoption, our shiny new system becomes just another underutilized tool. HR technology adoption isn’t about enthusiasm. It’s about design, communication, and follow-through.

Why Systems Fail: Four Culprits

Even the most robust, intuitive HR tech can flop if people don’t use it. Typically, adoption breaks down for one (or more) of the following reasons:

End-user indifference
Ineffective training
Inadequate communication
Limited accountability

I once walked into a company where, on payday, employees queued in HR to have their paychecks printed out for them. (This was within the very recent past. I am not kidding.) Never mind that the company had invested in self-service tech years earlier. The kiosks were dusty. The logins long forgotten.

Why? Because the four culprits above had taken root. There was no structured training, no follow-up, no accountability, and employees had collectively decided to opt out. So HR and payroll staff kept doing manual work they weren’t supposed to be doing anymore – all while the company continued paying licensing fees for a tool that few employees used..

It took targeted intervention – a shift in expectations, updated processes, and a bit of tough love – to correct course. But it also required rethinking the company’s approach to HR technology adoption. Not as an event, but as a long-term behavior change.

4 x Four: Attacking the Four Culprits

1. Start at the Start

Effective adoption begins during system selection, not implementation. Before you even sign a contract, ask: “Who will actually use this system?” (i.e. not just the HR team, but employees, managers, and front-line leaders). “What do they need? What do they fear?”

If you want engagement later, bring those voices in early. Involve a cross-section of end users in demos. Let your tech skeptics ask questions and seek feedback from departments who’ll rely on the system day-to-day. This isn’t about consensus – it’s about insight.

Map your rollout thoughtfully. Some organizations thrive with a full-system launch while others need a phased approach. At one organization, we launched payroll and core HR in October, followed by benefits, recruiting, and finally, performance management modules over several months. That intentional pacing gave users time to adapt and build confidence before we layered in more change.

Also: consider your internal brand. HR tech is rarely exciting to non-HR people. The system’s usefulness must be clear from day one. Define what success looks like – and how you’ll measure it.

2. Communicate Early. Communicate Often.

Too often, the communication plan consists of one launch email and a few slide decks. That’s not a plan. That’s a half-hearted formality.

Start with getting your messaging clear so you can explain “what’s in it” for the users. Shorter workflows? 24/7 access? Fewer paper forms? Tie every communication to a benefit that feels real. Abstract promises like “efficiency” or “innovation” won’t cut it so show them exactly what’s changing – and why it matters.

In addition, make sure to vary your communication channels. Get the message out via all-hands meetings, department huddles, Slack updates and good old-fashioned emails and intranet landing pages. Create micro-training videos that include screen grabs and previews to make the unfamiliar less intimidating. And make sure your leaders are reinforcing the message; if HR is the only voice promoting the system, users will treat it like an HR project – not a business imperative.

Naturally, you need to be prepared for resistance. At one all-hands meeting discussing an upcoming HR tech launch (with more employee self-service capabilities), an employee asked, deadpan, “So if I’m doing all this myself now, what is HR going to be doing?”

Mildly antagonistic? Perhaps. But it also opened the door for a bigger conversation about empowerment, transparency, and rethinking how we all interact with systems.

3. Train with Intention (and Follow Through)

Not all training is created equal, and not all vendors support training the same way. Before implementation, ask what training resources are available – for every user type. If the vendor provides little or nothing, that burden falls on you.

Decide early: Will your training be formal or informal? Self-paced or live? Collaborative or self-guided? Most importantly, make it contextual. Don’t train in a vacuum – train users in workflows they’ll actually use.

Consider using beta testers by recruiting employees to test-drive the system pre-launch. Their experience will then help you design training that speaks to the actual user, not the power-user. You should also consider creating and maintaining support materials: FAQs, user guides, and how-to videos and ensure they are readily accessible to all users.

Part of training is ensuring that employees begin using the system as soon as possible after you go-live. At one company, we incentivized employees going in and reviewing (and updating!) their personal profiles (all those new fields of data that had null values to map over) with a simple contest. They logged in, completed their profiles/entered data, and had a chance to win gifts cards and prizes. It wasn’t groundbreaking, but it got people in the system and once there, they became less likely to revert to old habits.

4. Monitor, Adjust, and Reinforce

Go live is not the end. It’s the beginning of the next phase for this is when you monitor usage. Are employees logging in? Are managers completing tasks? Where are people getting stuck? Use your data to drive targeted support. If, for example, 40% of users are resetting passwords weekly, that’s probably a systemic issue – not a user failure.

Your goal is to build familiarity through repeated, meaningful use which you can accomplish by doing things such as keeping the experience dynamic. Celebrate milestones, embed feedback loops (user satisfaction surveys?) and don’t let the system fade into the background once launch buzz wears off. Repetition builds confidence. Confidence drives adoption.

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Technology only works if people use it, and HR systems are no exception. Adoption isn’t about pushing people toward compliance – it’s about designing an experience they can navigate, trust, and benefit from.

When we treat system implementation, roll-out and user adoption like a change initiative instead of a chore-filled checkbox, we quickly realize we aren’t just launching a tool.

We’re changing how work gets done.

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