You Need a Plan B

 Managers make plans.  They do it often and over long periods of time.  The rest of their time is spent executing those plans.

However, as we all know, sometimes things go wrong.  Worse still, often those things going wrong are outside of your control or sphere of influence - you are simply a victim of their effects.

Effective managers have built a risk register, mitigating actions and even a backup plan, ready for such occurrences They learn that they should think through every decision and every action built into their plan and identify what might go wrong - and what external factors might affect it.  Then they plan in detail or in outline depending on he nature of the threat, what actions they might take if things do go wrong.

Jim Collins, the management guru and author of the book From Good to Great, calls this 'Productive Paranoia', suggesting that we should all be paranoid about future events that might derail our plans.

“The question is not if bad things will happen, it’s when,” Collins said during the 2023 World Business Forum summit. “And it’s what you do before the storm comes” that determines how well you’ll react or recover.

Of course, overthinking about unfortunate events or calamities can be dangerous, but not as bad as expecting all things to turn out as you plan.

You really DO need a Plan B. 

Education: What is it For?

What is the purpose of education ? Actually the question should split into:  What is currently the purpose of education?. What is the purpose of future education?

As fewer of us will have jobs in the future (because we cannot match the productivity of robots and AI agents), our grandchildren will not need education to prepare them for the world of work.  We need to prepare them for a world of  no-work, of leisure, of filling their time constructively without the inherent motivation of work.

This assumes, of course, that (part of) the wealth generated by automated processes and systems is divided among these non-working citizens in the form of q universal basic income which meets their essential safety and security needs.

Education can then , and must, concentrate on their personal development and their enrichment.

The number of changes this will require of current education models is frightening and I do not have great confidence in the ability of our educators to refine their models appropriately.  If they don't we will condemn future generations to increasing frustration snd lack of direction.

Oddly enough,. some of the answers lie in the changes that are bringing about this situation.   We need our children to go through something similar to 'machine learning' whereby we allow them to experience situations through which they can develop their own knowledge and perhaps experiment with new ideas.  No longer do they have to accept a standardised model of learning - they develop their own,

Their learning and development must include social development so some of this learning must be in groups - but these can be mixed age, mixed gender, mixed ability - though we may have trouble defining 'ability' in this new world.

I hope someone with power and influence is already thinking about, and planning, this new system as it will be a long and difficult transition.  I also hope that future parents realise their part in this transition. In fact their participation is essential since if we leave it to governments, the drag of bureaucracy might mean it never happens - or not until it is too late for the next few generations.

Ask the Right People the Right Questions

As a productivity professional, you get into the habit of asking 'awkward' questions - why do we do that?; why do you do that in that way?;

But there are other questions that can be just as useful in uncovering the reasons for lost productivity.

Occasionally, you've should go to the key points in a process - the bottlenecks , any source of errors, areas of high cost,.  Talk to the people who operate the process and ask therm:

"Tell me what you do every day"

"When you do those things, what gets in your way?"

"What affects the quality of your work?

"What changes would you like to see?"

Then ask supervisors the same questions about their team.

Triangulate ehe answers to see if they agree/correlate.  If not, find out why not.  

Ask the supervisors if the operator responses are realistic.  Are they fair?  Why did you not raise these issues with your line manager?

Now, you have some avenues of enquiry to pursue.

The worst that can happen is that you don't make significant improvements - but you will almost certainly have delighted your employees with your attempt to understand and deal with their concerns. You will have motivated your supervisors to monitor future operator views and suggestions.  Satisfaction/morale should rise - and trigger  higher productivity.

The best that can happen is that you will find that you have started a virtuous cycle of enquiry and improvement.

Safe Working is Productive Working

What is the relationship between safety at work and the productivity of that work?

Organisations that fail to take all possible safety measures are obviously more at risk of accidents and injuries - and in many countries, a risk of prosecution.

These consequences can naturally have a negative effect on performance and productivity.

However, these are only the direct consequences of the failure to tackle safety seriously.  There is also a range of indirect or secondary factors. Some of these are fairly obvious, others perhaps less so,

For example, there may be a loss of core and key skills as workers are injured (or worse).This can harm performance immediately and severely - and has an impact on both hiring and staff training costs as the organisation tries to replace those skills.  This is exacerbated if current employees look at the safety recored and decide to take their skills and experience to a safer competitor. (This can even be the start of a vicious cycle of decline as the problem worsens over time.)

If a series of accidents is made public (and if the accidents are serious, then word will spread) the organisation's reputation will suffer. Again, this impacts on potential employees who will not want to join an organisation that may fail to look after their well-being.  It is also possible that the publicity will impact on potential customers and their desire to do business with a company that fails to safeguard its employees.

All organisations should:

• Ensure that process and work design puts safety front and central in the design process, eliminating potential accidents at this earliest stage.
• Avoid bottlenecks that can induce and increase stress
• Design tools and equipment the help prevent accidents and errors
• Collect and analyse data on accidents and incidents so that all hazard points are identified and dealt with
• Have comprehensive and robust preventative maintenance processes and schedules, to ensure accidents never occur through poorly maintained machines and equipment
• Regularly review environmental conditions - heating and, especially, lighting.
• Ensure all cleaning staff are taught to recognise and report all safety hazards
• Where technically and economically possible, use self-monitoring equipment that can identify emerging faults and defects
• Adopt realistic performance targets that are based on safe working.

As a bonus, these factors should also reduce total operating costs, reduce the costs of poor quality,  reduce carbon emissions, lower electricity consumption, and provide sustainability and environmental benefits. 

The answer to our original question is that productivity and safety are positively correlated.

The Importance of Engagement

Workforce engagement is important because it is linked with (and underpins) effort, innovation, productivity, and retention—and in industries/sectors/geographical areas with a competitive landscape and a shortage of talent, it can make or break a company, its culture,  its performance, and its ability to succeed.

What is 'engagement'?

In essence, it is the emotional attachment employees feel for their organisation, its values, its mission, and its working methods. Engaged employees are more committed, more dedicated, and more productive.

Although perhaps these 'outputs' of engagement are the most important result of improved engagement, this is also seen in the behaviours of employees at work, their relationships with other members of their workgroup, and their relationships with their superiors/managers.

People who are engaged are responsive, interested, and share ideas— and recognise the contributions of others.

Just as importantly, they tend to handle conflict and disagreement in constructive ways, working through issues to come to agreement or consensus.

So how do we improve engagement?

We make sure that people know what the company— and their team— is aiming to achieve— overall and in the current period. They understand where their role fits into the bigger picture.

Perhaps the most important factor is that people need to believe their role/job matters— it is meaningful and valued. They know that their individual role, their individual values, and their aspirations and ambitions are known by their superior(s).  They have regular contact and interaction with those superiors to discuss their performance, satisfaction, aspirations, and development needs— where they can grow to mutual self and organisational benefit.

They value a degree of choice and control— so prefer a role that offers some flexibility and autonomy.  Micromanagement lessens engagement.

All you have to do is to provide these conditions, to be present and accessible to your staff, to communicate on all key issues, respecting staff views and responses.  Behave consistently, reinforcing agreed values.  Where employees exhibit 'errant' behaviours, step in and discuss reasons why.  

This is not a one-off exercise— it must be continual and consistent behaviour.

Start NOW - but never stop!

Are You Elite?

Many leaders think they are elite - special at what they do, leaders of the pack.   However many of those same leaders, if we analysed their performance and their success record, would turn out to be reasonably well organised,  with systems and processes that are are good enough, and a productivity level that is acceptable.

This is not enough to be considered elite.  They still exist as reactors to business stimuli and threats, they still lack true focus - they have too many distracting activities.

The next level (elite) of leadership is more than implementing a few strategies that may only last a few months. The next level suggests a complete re-engineering of the  operating system, a reinvention of the way the business works, and the way the leader interfaces with their teams. 

There are three essential attributes required of an elite leader:

(i) a strong set of core values which govern (and sometimes limit) what they do, how they interact, how they communicate.

(ii) an ability to think in structural forms - business structure, team structures, system structures, process structures, etc. Structured components are more resilient - they can withstand shocks and threats more easily.

(iiI) a healthy dose of skepticism.  They know when to ask "Why?" and "Why not?".  They say "No" as well as "Yes". They value change (structured change of course) but they know what should not be changed.

If you have, and exhibit, these attributes, perhaps I have maligned you. 

Perhaps you ARE one of the rare, elite leaders.

Metrics Matter

There are many ways to improve productivity and performance - via technology, process change, culture change and so on.  But with each one, we need to measure the success (or otherwise) of our initiative to understand what works in our organisation.

We need to identify which metrics are the most important for determining efficiency.and the most appropriate for our particular project.

When selecting the right operational metrics for your company, ask yourself which of the below is most important at the present time, and work from there:

• Productivity
• Operational costs
• Employee engagement
• Product quality
• Customer satisfaction

You should try and balance leading and lagging indicators so that you know what has happened, what is happening, and what should happen in the future.

We should be looking at the performance of our employees - as individuals and as teams … and here we might need both hard (from production records) and soft data (from appraisals).

Financial metrics are often important - what is happening to labour costs, running costs, overheads? … as are quality metrics (Error rates, customer complaints).  These can be supported or clarified with customer satisfaction and customer retention/repeat business metrics.

Employee satisfaction scores (for retention, absenteeism, satisfaction) are another dimension appropriate for specific projects.

You also have to remember that measurement costs money so try to use data already collected for other purposes.

Pick a 'basket of measures' that do not concentrate too much on any one dimension.  For example concentrating on throughput at the expense of quality.

With a comprehensive, balanced  data-driven approach to performance measurement, your organisation can make meaningful process improvements to lower costs, reduce waste, and improve productivity and profits.  The metrics you choose help signal intent, show progress and demonstrate success.

Focus!

I`nterruptions are distractions.  Those people who constantly respond to texts, emails and  messaging systems might feel 'in the loop' but their productivity is probably woefully low.  Discipline is needed to wait until an appropriate time when the task in hand is finished or can be paused with no detriment. Those who cannot be disciplined should turn off their technology to give them periods in which they can fully concentrate.

Multitasking is also distracting.  Those who either try to do two things at once or switch constantly between two tasks will also suffer a lack of performance.  Have you ever tried to read two books at the same time?  Most people who do so find they gain little from either book.  The problems of multitasking are made worse if the tasks in the rotation require the same part of the brain for completion.  So, a creative task could just about be carried out air he same time as a mundane, repetitive task but two creative tasks at the same time is not possible - except for a very few people with strange (even weird) attributes.

Constant interruptions can not only affect concentration - and thus performance; they can also affect employees' mental health.

Some of the 'productivity techniques' suggest assigning specific periods of time to specific tasks (or portions of specific tasks) - and this can be a useful device - again if practised in a disciplined manner.  These periods should be long enough to allow concentration to grow, settle and be effective - say a minimum of 30 minutes.

However you do it, it is important to build barriers that prevent interruptions and distractions looming into your consciousness when you are trying to concentrate.

It also helps if the leaders of work groups create periods of the day or week when there will be no meetings - and employees are discouraged from interrupting their colleagues.

The aim should be to create periods of time - and to allow employees to create their own periods of time - when focus can be total.

Communication is Key

Most people, on starting a new job, turn up with a positive attitude.  They may be nervous about the new situation but they want to do well, to succeed, and in return to be valued and fairly rewarded.

Yet some of these employees will end up being 'let go' or demoted for poor performance.

What goes wrong?

Well, what those new employees need is a clear understanding of their role, and its place in the wider scheme of things, and the expectations of that role by managers.  What is it they are expected to do - and achieve?  

Put more simply they need to know what the goals are, how to achieve them and their role in that achievement.

They also need the skills required to carry out their role. If they do not have all the skills, they will - and should - expect training or development activity to fill any gaps.

If these two conditions are not met - it is almost always not the fault of the employee.  Something has gone wrong with selection, onboarding, communication or training.   Errors in these areas can be catastrophic for the employees - and expensive for the organisation.

Failure to fully inform and prepare employees is a recipe for low productivity.

Hard Work Plus

 We all know that hared work is needed to be truly successful.

However, we also know that hard work alone is not enough.

We need our hard work to be in the right direction.

One common expression of this phenomenon is that managers are very good at doing things right, but leaders are good at ensuring the right thing is done.

But we have still not completed our list of success factors.

We have all seen those who work very hard (perhaps even including ourselves at times) fall from their peak of performance due to exhaustion or burnout.

Many of the great thinkers and successful people throughout history have raised the need for 'down time', when the mind and body are able to recover from their exertions and prepare themselves for the next phase of hard work.

This recovery time might include rest, relaxation, reflection but might alsoinclude sport and  exercise - anything that contributes to an overall life balance.

 

So structure such periods into your day/week of hard work snd you are likely to get results which are better - or at least as good- but you will survive in a better state.  After all, we are seeking long-term productivity, not short bursts of success.

Volunteers Needed

 It is getting increasingly common for firms to introduce opportunities for volunteering amongst their staff. This may be partly altruistic - attempting to do some good for a national charity or for the local community - but most of the firms that do it, do so for ‘selfish’ reasons.    They want to show some community and/or some stakeholders that they are the good guys, (so its a PR exercise) and they hope to cement the engagement of their staff with the organisation.

 

The employees who do take the opportunity to become involved in the volunteering efforts do indeed generally engage more positively with the organisation but they also claim to have improved well-being - often in relation to their mental health.  They value the fact that they themselves are valued as more than a ‘human resource’, more than a number on the payroll…. they are valued for  how they interact with others, including the community with whom the charity  is engaged.

 

The net results  - in addition to improved well-being-  are increased staff retention (reducing hiring and onboarding costs for the organisation), improved attractiveness to potential recruits and perhaps most importantly,  a boost to employee performance and productivity.

So, the introduction of a volunteering programme can have bottom-line impact and can make all members of the organisation feel better about the organisation and themselves.

These companies worried about the effects being temporary can ‘hedge their bets’ somewhat by, say, having a volunteering month each yeast when a particular charitable project is taken on.  The benefits should last longer than the month and should proved an annual boost to organisational performance.