People and Productivity

Some people are workhorses and will stay productive all the time they work.  Unfortunately, they are a minority.  Most people need incentives to stay productive.

“Work all the time you work”, “Keep things moving forward”, “Make the best use of time and motion”.  Not everyone thinks like that when working for an hourly wage or a predetermined fixed salary.  So what’s a leader to do?

Incentivize.  It could be with measuring output and posting it publicly.  It could be by paying a fixed percentage of revenue, commission or a “piecework plan” of some kind, or with simple recognition for good output in a culture that expects and acknowledges it.

Different work, people and environments beg different solutions – but do something to encourage the result you want your team to achieve. Duputizing a person to be their own supervisor with a predetermined incentive plan is better than any taskmaster watching over them – or none.

Rich in July, Broke in January

Every business has cycles.  The wind is at your back one season, and in your face another.

While “getting while the getting is good” is important, not giving it back when things are tight is equally important. Losing money is not an option in any season.  Either reduce your fixed expenses in your off season, or diversify for other income when your original business gets slow.

Make a little money when things are slow, and a lot when things are good.

Train for Results

What group of employees needs to get better results in 2016 for your group to accomplish its goals?

What training do you have to give them for them to do so?

When will you start?

Did you make a profit this year?

If you did not, you are not helping the world.  A business that is perilously close to going out of business does not add stabilty to the community, people’s lives (jobs), or to other businesses.

What will you do differently this coming year so you don’t make a mess?

"What are our goals again?"

For all I talk about goals, I had an employee ask the above question.  I am glad he asked.  

For all we like to think we communicate what the organization is trying to do a lot, it’s not hard for some to miss the memo.

It’s because we communicate in board meetings to higher ups, and we communicate a LOT to some groups of employees and hardly at all to others. We’ve been talking a lot, but not everyone is hearing a lot, because when we talk, we aren’t talking to everybody. It’s because some managers bring the message to their front line employees, and some don’t. It’s because we talked about it at the beginning of the year, and haven’t talked much since the fanfare went down.  

When people are on a team, they must know what the team leaders want to do better, how, and who will measure results.  

Over-communicating is far better than under-communicating.

"Work" – an action, not a place.

As the owner of my business, I find that if I want to work on a meaningful project, do some careful analysis and clear thinking and decision making, I have to get away from the office.  In the office there are too many people who want to chat, interrupt me “for just a minute”, and things to interact with.  This is all important for a leader of course, but not a good place to focus or concentrate.

I have another place I go to get things done (often in the morning).  A desk where there is nobody else but me.  A place I can bring the “to do/read/consider folder”, and get through it smoothly and much faster, and feel good about it. I can get more done at both places as a result.

Do you have that second quiet place where you work?

Don't suffer reaction; act.

“Something bad happened today.”  “What?” the business owner said to his manager.

The manager told him.  “And it wasn’t right what he did.  The mistake cost us a ton of money.”

The owner looked past the manager into space for ten seconds, thinking.

“Aren’t you mad?  I’d be if it was my money…” the manager trailed off, not knowing where to go from here. The owner wasn’t reacting how he thought he would, or should.

The owner showed no distress.  He got up, nodded at the manager, and walked toward his office door.  “C’mon.  Let’s go talk to a few more people and find out what caused the problem and see what we can do better.”

The manager followed the leader.

Managing Yourself

People will think twice about following someone who can’t manage their own life.  

If you can’t manage yourself, you will be hard pressed to manage a business.

Personal finance, relationships, fitness, home, emotional well-being; be sure you have your stuff straight.

Vary your view

What’s the problem?  Be open to a solution appearing. Get some different views of it. Ask the other people involved for their opinion/story on it. Sit in another department for a while and look at the problem. Get up extra early and consider it in the still of the early morning. Ask a trusted friend. Explain the problem to someone who has no knowledge of it at all. Draw the problem out on paper. Express the problem as a question. Now express it as several other questions.

When you change the way you look at a situation, the situation changes.

Too Smart

Sometimes people are so smart that they talk themselves out of good ideas and opportunities. Overthinking can be just as problematic as not thinking enough.  

Of course, it depends on the stakes, but often mixing some action into the right amount of solid thinking will give you real feedback on the quality of an idea.

What do you know about yourself?  Do you under-think things, or overthink them?