The Collective Impact Approach, while originally targeted within the social sector translates well into business and manufacturing. Especially if the entity is experiencing challenges with individual productivity and/or peer-to-peer accountability. This happens everywhere but can at times be more prevalent within a union culture. The basic tenets of the Collective Impact Approach (CIA) are as follows: common agenda, shared measurement, mutual reinforcement, continuous communication, support from a central entity governing the process. These are all easily translated into processes and procedures already existing in the business and manufacturing world. CIA is an excellent template once the realization that individual parts can not be ‘fixed’ without addressing the whole.
Costs Control
Cost control breaks down to one singular element. Focus on the little things, as those are the things that can add up to large costs. This may be in the form of process and/or personnel. Let’s take a look at personnel. One daily hour of unproductive employee time across the company equals a huge loss. Sadly, one hour a day is below the norm (three is the norm) of what is being wasted. Of course productive hours range from personality type to job type but on average if you read an article Eric Barker wrote for his Wired Magazine column the following stands: People work an average of 45 hours a week; (U.S.: 45 hours a week; 16 hours are considered unproductive) People spend 5.6 hours each week in meetings (U.S.: 5.5 hours; 71% feel meetings aren’t productive) Women had a higher average productivity score U.S.: women, 70%; men, 68% Barker wrote in the U.S., workers attribute these unproductive hours to procrastination, 42%; lack of team communication, 39%; ineffective meetings, 34%. The good news is, the dynamic is correctable.
What Management Model Are You Using?
So often we take time to set goals, plan, develop missions, etc. However, we often overlook a major component. The ‘how’ of implementation. Regardless of the size of your business/organization, participative approaches to management are important to consider.Are you evaluating how each/your participative management approach(s) works? Do you annually or better yet quarterly consider its particular output, strengths, costs and potential tweaks. Are you utilizing one of the stronger participative approaches, “high-involvement management” involving employees financially and psychologically? Or maybe modeling a more integrative management approaches to involve people at all levels of an organization? Whether you are using participative management or another type of management, the important factors to remember are the approach you use is directly linked to your productivity, or lack thereof, and cost/cost savings. Given that, it is worth evaluating your tools regularly.
High Performance Culture
A high performance culture looks like what? If you aren’t sure, you may want to first create one for yourself before expecting an entire corporate or organizational culture to have it. If you aren’t sure if you have a high performance culture, most likely you don’t. You can find a million different models of it, some general, some specific, so take a moment and check them out to start your own internal, personal high performance culture then tackle the organization’s.
13% Of Employees Worldwide Are Engaged
You’ve already done the math in your head that tells you 87% of employees worldwide are not engaged. For the stats you can visit http://www.gallup.com/poll/165269/worldwide-employees-engaged-work.aspx . We can talk until we are blue in the face about why this dynamic exists. But I strongly believe it is rooted in a few basic ‘truths’. One, change is hard. Two, we are often living urgency addicted lives that tell us if we believe, visualize, etc. things will happen. Both of those ‘truths’ are correct. However, there is an additional component that needs to be added into the mix and it is ‘work’. You have to do the work. Sometimes it is hard work, uncomfortable, it might leave you standing alone or standing among people you are unfamiliar with and/or it may upset those who are accustomed to your current so-called ‘life’. What it boils down to is this… Employers will have unproductive, or less than ideal workforces and employees will have jobs they are not engaged in until someone pulls the accountability card for something more than just productivity/dollars. We are settling for less than we could have, as individuals, organizations and corporations because the bar seems respectable regarding outcomes. The reality is if you implement an engagement plan you could be seeing an altogether new, much higher, metric of what success really can look like increasing all your positive assets including productivity, dollars and engagement.
I’ve been training some folks lately and it is always a great reminder when training someone new and sensing their apprehension that we all need to continuously check ourselves to make sure we continue to march forward with our amazing lives and not shrink back when we feel unsure. Often a training situation leaves trainees feeling a bit uneasy and unsure of themselves. I like to share with them that the only guarantee of not making a mistake equates to not trying at all…which ironically will circle them back into mistake-land anyway. So next time you are thinking, “I’m not sure” remember the word mistake has an undeserved negative connotation. Making a mistake, when you are trying to learn, is the path to growth and knowledge.
Because No One Is Perfect
You are not perfect, but you are in good company as no one is. Trying to project perfection in an imperfect world is a fool’s errand. It will exhaust you and confuse others. People benefit from being able to relate and/or learn from your challenges. You make yourself more accessible to others empowering their growth by being authentic rather than projecting false perfection. You are not perfect. And that is what makes you great!
So Who Isn’t Looking For A New Job?
So who isn’t looking for a new job? Apparently not many. If you are passionate about your job count yourself among the few. Over 75% of folks are looking for a job to jump to. I can’t imagine what that translates to when it comes to loss of productivity and dollars for both the employee and the employer. If you are in Human Resources, what are you doing to pull those with a passion for what you do into your organization? If you are an employee, among the 75%, what are you doing daily to free up yourself to make more money and enjoy it?
The Uncomfortable Reality Of Knowing Someone Needs To Go
If on average 75% of employees are looking for a new job the reality is you are paying a lot of people who aren’t committed long-term to the company. It is an unfortunate reality that no one likes to talk about. People aren’t usually crazy about change so while they prefer to be elsewhere, there is an odd comfort of staying where they are and collecting a check, even if it isn’t what they want, or what the company would want if they knew. Increasing the challenge is as of 2010 there were 27.9 million small businesses, and 18,500 firms with 500 employees or more. This is to say we live in a nation where small business dominates and small business human resources departments face challenges large corporations don’t. There is a different dynamic in a business with less than 500 employees. It is a more personal environment, often located in less urban areas which often can create an additional layer of discomfort for those in human resources. HR doesn’t let someone go and never see them again, that isn’t the reality. The reality is they let someone go and then see them off site at the grocery, church, their children’s sports events or maybe just in passing. This small business dynamic leads down one of two paths when it comes to an employee who is no longer engaged. One, hope the employee leaves and accept the loss in money and productivity until he/she does. Or two, a more productive approach, engage the employee in an exit plan. Engaging an employee in actively thinking about their future will promote one of two things. One the employee will self identify that there are opportunities which merit re-engaging within the company. Or two the employee will self identify that it is time to move on. Using self-identification tools helps shift the burden from the employer and instead provides the employee an opportunity to take responsibility and initiative on a new path. Given the biggest fear of employees in leaving a company is monetary there is a win-win solution. The company transitions an employee out with an agreed upon exit plan/contract. In the short and long-term it saves the company money by eliminating unproductive activity and expedites training, saving on training costs if a new employee will be transitioning in, eliminating any loss in production. What does an exit plan/contract look like? More on that later this week.