What is a culture of productivity? This is a fair question, and the answer is not so simple. There are many aspects to building a robust culture of productivity. But if you are imagining an efficiency expert patrolling your office with a stopwatch, that's not quite what we mean. Effective processes, employee engagement and empowerment, and intentional communication are the building blocks to creating a culture of productivity and the key to fueling organizational growth.
A culture of productivity encourages everyone to raise their hands and offer solutions when day-to-day systems or processes cause inefficiencies. When embracing a culture of productivity, an organization welcomes ideas from employees closest to the issues to provide the best insight.
Consider your current company culture... are employees motivated and encouraged to work smarter and think collectively?
Here are a few common examples of inefficiencies that exist in many organizations today:
- Spending more time waiting for systems to respond and less time working.
- Passing a request through multiple parties when one person could take care of it.
- Employees show up and give you their time, but not their best effort or ideas.
- Accepting that "This is just the way it is."
These are some ways inefficiencies manifest, which can add up and plague productivity. So what is the actual cost of downtime within your organization? Is your culture fueling and influencing growth? Consider the following three principles for embracing a culture of productivity in your workforce.
1. Efficient Processes
Would it surprise you to know that 54% of office professionals report wasting valuable time searching for data? In this report, nearly one in five (18%) of the 1,000 US professionals surveyed noted this was their primary problem concerning their future remote work strategy. Sure, a reasonable percentage of time can be dedicated to finding data. But consider what else could be accomplished by shaving off 60%, 50%, or even 25% of that time.
Fundamentally, technology is intended to make each of us more efficient. By implementing effective processes and technology solutions, we can produce more significant outcomes in the same amount of time. The term “solution” implies it solves a problem, so the first step is identifying points within your organization that cause delays. Then introduce automated workflows with the appropriate checks and balances in place. Your workforce will get the job done more efficiently, cost-effectively, and ultimately increase your bottom line by removing unnecessary delays.
2. Employee Engagement and Empowerment
No matter what type of organization you run, employee engagement is a critical driver of success. According to a recent Gallup poll, 85% of employees are not engaged (or actively disengaged) at work. Together, this results in an estimated $7 trillion in lost productivity.
Engagement is defined as the level of commitment and connection your employees have to your organization and its customers. An empowered employee has the autonomy, resources, and support to act independently with accountability.
Your employees generally want to make a difference. The most engaged employees tend to look for creative ways to make their work more efficient. They feel more empowered to communicate ideas vertically and potentially see the outcomes of their efforts adopted by the organization.
According to a recent Forbes article, a large part of promoting critical thinking is to provide the most advanced tools and equipment to increase employee focus and performance. Ultimately, your organization benefits from increased productivity and, more importantly, employee job satisfaction.
3. Intentional Communication for Change
While providing the right tools can increase employee engagement and satisfaction, understanding and adopting the new technologies is equally essential to productivity. If you attempt to address an efficiency issue by simply introducing new technology without providing proper training and communication to your staff, you will likely not experience the desired increase in productivity that you had hoped for.
The shift to working from home during the global pandemic brought about a significant cultural change for many organizations. Suddenly, there was a need to embrace cloud computing and remote collaboration tools. However, for numerous workers, these new strategies were unfamiliar and confusing. The transition from accessing files through trusted mapped drives to using SharePoint in the cloud proved to be a challenging process, particularly for Baby Boomers and Gen-X employees. It was a learning curve that some of our workforce found to be overwhelming.
As technology continues to advance at a rapid pace, it becomes increasingly important for organizations to stay competitive and embrace these advancements. However, it's crucial to acknowledge that a learning curve still needs to be addressed. When implementing new technology or making a shift in products, it is essential to provide effective communication and training to your teams. Does your new technology initiative have a communication plan that includes;
- Executive sponsorship?
- A plan for how new technology is to be used?
- A training lead to roll out the process internally?
- The vision of what success looks like?
Remember, the changes that need to occur within your workforce are behavioral and intentional communication is key to promoting a culture of productivity and driving organizational growth.
If you're looking for guidance on creating a culture of productivity within your organization, don't hesitate to reach out to us. We can help you identify and implement technologies that will increase productivity and support adoption among your workforce. Contact us today to start the conversation by selecting the link above, calling 888.624.6737, or email info@systemsengineering.com. Clients, please reach out to your Account Manager directly.
