Productivity Knowledge Base: Why Productivity?

There you are with 1,000 things to do, most of them high priority. And now, you're expected to address productivity and come back with a good plan? It's a lot of work. And it may cost money. Why should you do it?

In a word, survival. As your competitors become more productive, they can more easily beat you on price while possibly even making a fatter margin. That means they can hire better help (possibly away from you), get the jobs that lead to other jobs, and basically elbow you aside. As a farmer might say, "They'll push you away from the feeding trough." That doesn't make for a very good business situation for you.

One "answer" to this problem is to work harder or longer. Many project managers or crew supervisors will demand more from their front-line employees. This is not a sustainable strategy. Most people, in our Western culture, have been brought up to put in a good day's work for a good day's pay. This work ethic is deeply ingrained and goes back for generations. Yes, some of these people will slack off sometimes. But the typical worker works pretty hard. And if you insinuate otherwise, then you will insult and demotivate your workers. It is possible you have hired all slacker type individuals who lack the basic work ethic so prominent in our culture. But, that is not very likely.

Another answer is just to pay people less for what they do. Many companies have decided this is a good strategy. So, they play games with performance reviews, demand routine overtime (unpaid) from their salaried employees, and find other ways to cheat their workers. This strategy shows complete disrespect for the people who deal with your customers and represent your company. It is not a sound business strategy, and it reveals a character flaw in your management. Don't use this strategy.

A third answer is to increase productivity. To start this effort, you conduct an examination of all the inputs to production. By examining these inputs and correcting deficiencies, you can increase productivity. You must also look at these inputs in three dimensions--not a simple task. That's something our productivity seminars will help you do. You'll understand how to compare different inputs, shorten the spaces between them, eliminate some, add others, and so on.

In short, productivity enhancement is a requirement for surviving in today's cut throat marketplace. Substitutes for an intelligent productivity effort lead only to failure. The right effort, with the right information, however, can ensure you are the one feasting at the feeding trough.