Fix Employee Productivity
If your business is like many, it’s possible that your employees can be more productive and accountable than they are at present.
Many studies have shown that myriad factors affect employee performance and productivity, admittedly some of which you can’t control – their motivation, professionalism, and level of engagement in their work.
But some things you can control – workplace culture, communication, job balance, work coordination, clear accountability, constructive feedback, fair measurement, recognition, incentives, career opportunities, focus…
We think a lot about this space and are absolutely passionate about how to improve how employees engage with their employers.
We generally ask our clients the following questions:
Does productivity and accountability really matter to your business?
Is your work culture assisting the business or obstructing it?
Do your meetings work?
Are you attracting and retaining top performers?
Do “difficult” conversations happen when needed?
1. Does productivity and accountability really matter to your business?
It is not unusual, especially in smaller businesses, for average employees to get less than 80% of their expected work (work assigned) accomplished in a given day, with as little as 60% of this work (work the business ultimately uses) deemed productive in that same day.
It’s often not the employees’ fault. If tasks are not defined clearly, if there isn’t a clear process or understanding in how to get the task done, if there is inadequate support, things don’t get done efficiently.
That’s not the worst of it. If an employee doesn’t know what to do if they’re late on a task, if they need help, if no one seems to care if the task is late or not done as expected, if there isn’t a sense that what they are doing matters, things don’t get done efficiently.
Even if they can’t measure it precisely, executives often get an inkling that things aren’t as productive as they might be, but know that solving productivity is highly complex. Even so, it is worth imagining the effect on expense levels, morale and profits.
On a different page, it’s also not unusual for employee accountability to be low. Clear accountability means clear responsibility – it depends upon clear expectations, boundaries and assumptions. How many times have each of us walked out of a meeting with a vague sense of who's going to do a what that hasn't been clearly defined, by a when that's a bit like a fog?
OutsiderMD has a great deal of experience in this area, which has allowed us to develop a range of techniques that help our clients create a clearer, more accountable work culture, with productivity measures that fit their values.
The best part? Employees are happier when their work matters, and more fulfilled when working in a challenging, highly productive work environment, as long as they find it fair and feel supported.
2. Is your work culture assisting the business or obstructing it?
"Work culture" is definitely an overused phrase, but call it what you will, it is real, and it has a real impact on your business' performance.
A great work culture gives your business all kinds of benefits, many of which you possibly already enjoy: people want to work for you, they look forward to the challenges (as well as the fun), they tend to stay longer and work harder, they contribute to improving the business, and they tend to be able to operate more autonomously – all of which can help raise their productivity.
But what exactly is a great work culture? There are many ingredients, of course, and they can vary widely from business to business.
It's helpful to remember that in accepting a job, employees agree to a kind of “deal” with their employer. They commit to do what is asked of them, in exchange for money, benefits, interesting challenges, achievement opportunities, support, career opportunities, and recognition. When employees feel this deal is violated, they can easily become upset and at times, an unhelpful influence within the workplace.
There are several cultural indicators we work with our clients on:
- Do employees realise how much it matters to the business when they’re unable to come to work? Do they make detailed arrangements with colleagues to ensure things move forward while they're out, or do they simply call or text in sick?
- Does the work culture promote clear employee accountability for their work? Is responsibility shared around, so that everyone learns what it’s like to be in charge of something?
- Are assignments, delegations and expectations clearly communicated? Are employees aware of what to do when they think they might not be able to meet a commitment? Do they feel supported at these times?
- Does the culture promote and reward productivity and high performance? Does it encourage a healthy exchange of ideas for continuous process improvements?
- Are top-performers recognised, and under-performers helped appropriately? When under-performers aren’t getting better after many attempts, are they performance managed, and if necessary, respectfully exited?
- Do “difficult” conversations happen in a timely manner?
A lot to think about there, so we’ll end with an old truism:
“happy employees = happy clients = happy bottom line”.
3. Do your meetings work?
A meeting is a window into the soul of a business.
Many businesses experience something we all recognise: meetings that drag on, meetings that start late (usually because important people arrive late), end late, meetings that allow some people to dominate or argue endlessly, meetings that don't have an agenda, don’t always result in decisions, and if decisions are made, accountability is left unclear, and decisions aren’t always carried out effectively.
Most of our clients want to improve their meeting culture, and adopt many of OutsiderMD's meeting techniques: clear purpose and ownership, starting and ending on time, clear outputs, managed continuity, and accountability.
It can make all the difference in a new work culture.
4. Are you attracting and retaining top performers?
Recruiting top performers is a key ingredient to freeing you up.
Many businesses don’t spend enough time working out exactly how they can identify a top performer in their recruiting process. Recruitment studies generally agree that too much unintentional emphasis goes to whether the candidates generally seemed a good "fit" for the company, and to what kind of mood the interviewers were in that day.
OutsiderMD helps clients clarify exactly what defines a top performer in their particular business. We also try to work out what our client’s business itself needs to be, in order to better attract top candidates to come work for them.
And once they’re on board, we put a framework in place for what our client needs to do to keep these key people happy, to give them the right amount of structure and opportunity, to stretch their skills, to maximise their impact on the business.
5. Do “difficult” conversations happen when needed?
Difficult conversations are the ones we put off because we are uncomfortable doing them, because the person we need to talk to might get upset, because the situation could get worse, or because the situation just might rectify itself without any intervention.
Of course, waiting to have a difficult conversation generally makes a bad situation worse. These situations generally do not rectify themselves, intervention is ultimately needed, and the sooner the better. It's a bit surprising, but we've worked with several senior executives who, even late in their careers, continue to shy away from these conversations.
But think about it: is it really fair to the employee if you're shying away from delivering a difficult bit of feedback? Aren't you robbing them of an earlier opportunity to address the situation and rectify it? Even if you're pretty sure they won't react well?
We often counsel our clients on how to make a difficult conversation an opportunity for greater fairness and feedback to the employee. It's a wonderfully constructive way to clarify what is needed, how progress will be monitored, supported and followed up. We work with them to identify successful strategies in structuring and running these meetings, as well as strategies to handle the next conversation, if things don't get better.
We also counsel our clients on terminations. When an employee needs to be terminated, it affects others in the business. There are fair, considerate ways of doing this, so that the organisation can absorb it.
Ironically, the more that difficult conversations can be an ordinary part of the normative working culture of a business, the easier they are to have, and the less dramatic they are within the organisation.
Of course, we’re very busy with our own people (and pet) issues, but we can always make time for a chat. Give us a call or text on +61427788777 or email (mickey.clark@outsidermd.com)…
“Mickey was appointed as my Executive Coach shortly after I was promoted to General Manager.
As a leader responsible for a $10M portfolio and leading a team of 60+ people, I felt I needed to work on a few areas. I must state that I was sceptical on how a coach could help me improve, but it wasn’t long before my CEO, colleagues and subordinates alike began noticing changes.
In our weekly meetings (some of which were quite confronting, but very fruitful), I could see rapid change as I learnt more about strategic influence, managing poor performers and creating sustainable, lasting change that would survive long after I moved on to bigger and better things.
Mickey worked quickly to assess my strengths and weaknesses and supplied a number of thought provoking moments. He also gave me a number of different perspectives. If I had to single out the one thing that I valued most, it was having Mickey as a sounding board.
Mickey doesn’t take much credit for what we did together, but that’s his style. Today I feel much more confident in my ability and know I have grown more in those short sessions than I would have attending years of further study.”