Realizing the Personal Aspect of All Productivity
Recently in one of my business coaching workshops, a client hit the nail right on the head when it comes to company productivity.
“Let me see if I’ve got this right,” he said, “What you’re saying is that company productivity is really all about personal productivity. It’s all about us.”
You can imagine my response: “Excellent,” I said. “Gold Stars.” All productivity, whether your company is a small firm or a global corporation, derives from the personal. And what does that mean to you, the leader or owner of a company?
It means that your company’s productivity begins (or ends) with your personal leadership and productivity. You get your team to be more productive by setting an example of personal productivity.
Leadership Matters in Productivity
Productivity starts at the top, in your office. Think of who has the most invested in your company or department. I’d wager that that person is you. If you own the business, it’s your money on the line. If you’re the managing executive of a department, it’s your career and reputation on the line. Your investment in productivity is huge.
Now, consider the essential nature of productivity. If I’m on your sales force, I can bring in all the work in the world, but if it can’t be done within budget and without cost overruns or rework or, at worst, orders cannot even be filled, then we do not get the net result we’re looking for.
In fact, we do our business more harm than good when we over-sell and under-deliver; i.e., when productivity cannot meet needs. This is no small order, either, and is especially challenging now that many workforces have been reduced and everyone has to be more productive without having a nervous breakdown.
Productivity can mean the difference between survival or not and/or profitability or not. Right down to whether the business owner can pull a paycheck or not.
So, when my client said, “It’s all about us,” you can see, he was right. Productivity begins with you, the leader, personally, and it is also fundamental to your net profit.
— Success begins with a blueprint.
Valerie
