Many organisations, public and private, large and small, have seen productivity drop over the last few years, despite a sense that everyone is working longer hours, feels more stressed and often overwhelmed by pressure.

How can this be, that we are working longer, but are actually less productive?   If there were a simple answer, you would have found it by now, and indeed productivity wouldn’t be a problem.  So don’t expect a quick ‘do these three things and see productivity transform’ article from us – that would insult us all.

Instead, why not look at one of the key levers of performance you actually have – your performance management approach.

Having a modern approach to managing performance is vital – and of course that needs to include aspects of well-being, development, inclusion, diversity, and competence as well as clarifying what people are meant to be doing.  BUT, and it’s a big but, how much focus is there on productivity as a vital of performance?

• How many of your leaders talk about productivity in the context of performance?
• How many leaders have worked out how to build productivity into how they lead performance?
• How many of your leaders are confident about the steps needed to improve productivity in their area?

For some functions, productivity is relatively easy to measure (though may not be easy to improve).  In many other areas, it can be very unclear what good productivity even looks like.  How do we know that?  Because every time we work with front line staff and junior managers, the most common refrain we hear is:

• ‘We don’t know what good looks like
• We don’t know if we are doing what the organisation really wants
• What even is higher productivity in my role anyway?’

Can your HR function answer these questions for themselves?  How are they going to help managers answer it for others?

Productivity doesn’t just come from setting clear expectations – though that’s a necessary element of any approach to improvement.  Productivity will not follow without a deeper understanding of HOW activity drives results for individuals, teams and organisations.

As you can probably sense, there is a lot more to be said around this topic.  We’ve been thinking and exploring what improving productivity means for how performance is managed, and how HR supports the workforce.   If you’d like to find out more about this topic  – contact us here.

Hedda

01491 411 544

info@3cperform.co.uk