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.