When I was in school we were told to do work individually.  To coordinate with others was called cheating.  We were trained to do work solo and collaboration was punished as cheating.

Every once in a while you will hear about someone who was in a marathon or some other race that cuts the course.  It's not called efficiency; it's called cheating (and rightly so).

I have conversations with people who are in different departments of businesses like HR.  They tend to attract the rule follower.  They never cheat.  They have no appreciation for it.  They are the guardians of order and the rules.

Pity the company who is run by a rule follower.  It's not that rules are bad but the rule follower is just that; a follower.  They are not about innovating, creating or asking questions.

Now this article is about efficiency.  The rule follower is a bit deaf to the idea of efficiency.  It's like they are listening on a different frequency and the sound of efficiency does not register with their ears.

When you ignore the rules and get a big fat penalty and you have not become efficient but dumb.  This is a great time to refer you to articles on collaboration with people that have complimentary tendencies.

What are you ignoring?  What are you not slowing down to deal with despite the penalties?  Who in your organization is strong with following rules?  You don't have to like the rules but you do need to respect them.  If you burn ten thousand calories following the rules because of the strain then you may be in need of an assistant.