Saturday, 21 October 2023

Should it be Productivity at all costs?

We have all seen examples of business leaders focusing exclusively on productivity growth - and failing to develop the business.

Elon Musk - and his (‘hard-nosed’) approach to managing Twitter (now ‘X’) is just one example.


Does this mean that a very strong focus on productivity is wrong?


As often is the case, the answer is ’No…. BUT ….)


A completely ‘hard-edged’ focus on the bottom line, on costs, can be dangerous.


There arere too many ‘soft’ factors involved in productivity - factors such as skill levels, culture, motivation, creativity.   These generally take a longer time to get right. But leaders who forget to address these softer factors - concentrating only on hard and structural factors - will fail to achieve peak performance.


So, take a full-throttle approach to productivity improvement but make sure you include the longer-term, softer factors to build the ’top line’ of the productivity ratio, whilst taking your hard-nosed look at the bottom line.


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