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Pursuit of productivity during uncertain scenarios Omer Saleem, Director and Deputy CEO of Proven SA discusses how to keep your team focused and productive during uncertain times Big businesses grow and adapt as the market environment changes and do so even more rapidly now with the accelerating technology options. With this growth and infusion of technology driven changes comes a new requirement for corporate positions to evolve with the corporation itself. It has become ever more critical for the overall success of entities that every position is filled by an agile employee whose workload is role-based and goal-oriented, the aim being 360 degree success. Today’s COVID-19 scenario is a prime example of how well-functioning corporations can face shocks to business as usual that can fundamentally change service delivery with downstream effects touching almost every internal part of the organization as well as the impact to the business from the overall market itself. Productivity is synonymous with getting things done efficiently. Productivity is defined differently for each organization and subsequently measured uniquely as well. Some organizations will measure productivity through client satisfaction while others may use operational metrics. Internally, each department might have further functionally driven metrics such as employee satisfaction in the HR department or whether the marketing department is targeting the right audience at the right time. Whatever scale your business uses, a structural SMARTSMB / April 2020
understanding of the business and a clear yet fluid job designations must be in place. In most cases in today’s market, productivity is measured at a departmental level with department specific criteria but a holistic business level productivity review is often missing which often leads to underperformance and diminished value creation from existing resources. It is critical to align to departmental metrics of productivity with organizational goals and subsequent strategy. As the market takes on new situations like an unexpected and fast-spreading pandemic, new challenges arise that put all individuals, businesses, the market and the entire world to the test. Productivity must become a more common topic in the workplace in order to make sure every employee is working at the highest level that helps the business create maximum value. Internal operations must not revolve around one department’s work in favor of the other. When managers start to feel like their departments are not creating value, they will feel the same way about their jobs and this demotivation will seep into their subordinates. As a business, your highest mission is optimum value creation. This can only be achieved if each role in the organization has clear visibility of high level company goals and align
their personalized goals for their respective roles. It is imperative in the current fast moving environment to have regular communication along with agile, clear goals aligning managers with the company goals which they can then optimize for their reportees to create maximum value. The same goes for individuals; how will you approach business as usual? How will your performance lead the business to achieving its goals? Tasks will automatically take long-term and short-term forms, and business tools will document these and set timelines and deadlines for them. As a result, the following elements will play a key part in boosting productivity:
Management Managers connect the base of the company pyramid to its vertex; they communicate the large-scale goals and transform them into operational goals. Managers need to have consistent communication with their employees and help define the priority, duration and outcomes of the operational goals. The communication needs to be in both directions. Managers should not only provide regular feedback to their employees but at the same time raise their concerns upwards to higher management and serve as their voice. Productivity is maximized if managers
