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B USINESS S UMMARIES Li TE

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The Book On… Improving


Productivity by Fair Means Or Foul

Dr. Tony Miller & Daniel Feiman


Build It Backwards Publishing, 2009
131 pages

the big idea


GETTING MORE PRODUCTIVITY AT NO EXTRA COST
Here are three things you can do immediately to improve employee motivation
and performance:

1. Start the week right. As the leader you need to set the tone. A quick, upbeat
briefing on key targets for the week is the best way to get everyone energized
and into productive week mode.

2. Engage in Power Coaching. People respond to coaching for many different


reasons. Coaching can have the most potent impact on the average group.

3. Get people to start and finish on time. This practice produces great results
particularly when coupled with beginning-of-the-week briefings. If you want an
immediate, easy way to improve your department’s productivity, you have to get
to people to work the hours you pay for.

UNDERSTANDING THE BASIS OF EMPLOYMENT


The employment contract provides the basis for either creating high productivity
or generating lots of problems. Current employment law makes it very difficult
to alter any aspect of the contractual agreement – the written word always takes

June 7, 2010
precedence – so take care and get the best legal advice when setting up your con-
tract templates.

Clearly describe your objectives and challenges and engage them in delineating
the tasks. Give them the authority and accountability to do the work and you will
be amazed at the unlocked potential rising from within your organization.

COMPETENCE OR PERFORMANCE
Competence + performance = productivity. High productivity without competence
will deliver results but without an essential underpinning of quality assurance and
standards, those results can be sustained. Competencies provide us with an assur-
ance of quality and safety, both vital ingredients for sustained high productivity.

PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL – THE KEY PERFORMANCE TOOL


Employees need to know how their past performance is viewed and, more impor-
tantly, what is expected of them in the future. Why is it then that everyone seems
to dislike the reality of this process? Managers hate it and according to a 2009
Survey, employees consider the performance appraisal a superfluous, paper chas-
ing exercise.

Somewhere along the business continuum, this great idea got hijacked and turned
into an administrative nightmare. If we are serious about significantly improving
productivity, we need to get the performance appraisal concept back on track and
make the process work.

DEALING WITH PROBLEM INDIVIDUALS


With problem employees, you need to fix them or get them out of the company.
The challenge is that employment law protects them, your own company policies
will favor them, and you will, most likely, become very unpopular as you try to
push any of these poor performers out of the organization.

You must be firm when productivty is at stake.

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