Productivity isn’t a bad word.
For some, the word “productivity” leaves a bad taste in their mouth.
When the boss says your team needs to increase productivity, it’s easy to hear them saying, “you’re not working hard enough. Work harder. Do more.”
Immediately, you start imagining all the nights you will spend working late; all the weekends you will have to give up in the name of increased productivity.
These feelings of fear and dread often come when productivity is mandated from the top down. Especially when the demand for doing more comes with little to no new resources or tools to help increase productivity.
Of course, it is a manager’s responsibility to maximize efficiency. Employee compensation amounts to a big portion of a company’s budget and under-performing employees have a negative impact on ROI.
Increased productivity, on the other hand, means more widgets are produced or more clients are served. This has a positive effect on ROI and the company’s bottom line.
I spent 20 years in fundraising and was no stranger to having high goals and high expectations. For a nonprofit, fundraising is often the only revenue the organization has. Increasing those donations is critical for nonprofits to grow and expand their mission.
Every year our fundraising goal increased.
Every year we were expected to produce better results.
Every year we had to find new ways to be more efficient and more productive.
When money was tight or we wanted to tackle a new initiative, I would regularly hear comments from all levels of the organization, “Chris, can’t you just raise more money?”
Even said in jest, there was always a measure in sincerity in their comments. The only way for our organization to do more was if my team raised more money.
This scenario isn’t unique to fundraising or to nonprofits:
R&D needs to shorten the time they take bringing products to market.
The marketing team needs to generate more excitement and demand.
The sales team needs to close more sales.
The production team needs to find ways to manufacture products for less.
Every area of your company feels the pressure weighing down on them at some point. Every team has heard leadership say, “we need you to step up.”
Do What Matters Most
I refuse to think about productivity as simply doing more. If this is the only goal for doing more, we’re always going to have a toxic relationship with productivity.
It’s always going to be a negative pressure looming over us.
Instead, I prefer to think of productivity as a way of empowering us to work on the things that matter most.
Productivity opens doors for us to be able to accomplish the things that will have the biggest impact on our company, in our personal lives, and with the projects that bring us purpose.
Think of it this way — there are only 24 hours in a day to accomplish everything we need (and want) to do. Every day comes with a fixed set of responsibilities. The more efficient we are at doing the required things, the more time we have available to work on everything else.
I’m sure you’re saying, “but if I have to do it, isn’t it important?” Absolutely not!
I have to file expense reports after I travel, but that doesn’t have a direct impact on the mission of the organization.
I have to mow my lawn and rake up leaves in fall, but yardwork doesn’t help grow my eBay business or spend more time with my family.
We get bogged down all the time with job functions that are not critical to helping us reach our goals. And let’s be honest, it’s usually when we’re doing these things that we lose the most time. Our mind tells us, “This isn’t mission-critical,” and it decides it’s ok if we wander.
Finding ways to be more efficient and productive with the non-critical things can open a huge amount of time for working on the projects that are critical to our success. Or the projects that we want to do.
Think about that project you always say you’ll do, “when I find time.” That’s usually followed by a good chuckle, because you know you’re not going to ever find the time to do it. But that project is usually the one that will make the biggest impact.
We are only able to move to the next level when we find time to do the things we’re not currently doing.
There’s a lot more to say about the benefits of productivity, both personally and professionally, but we’ll save that for another time.
My hope is that you are starting to look at productivity in a new light, something that isn’t so toxic and consuming. Something that can be refreshing and empowering.
I’d love to hear your thoughts and opinions on this new definition of productivity.
