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Use prudent pruning to increase productivity
Executive Development
By Wayne Outlaw
As an executive, you are constantly being asked to improve your organization’s performance results, whether it is a small group or large company.
In business, a continuous debate rages: Is it better to cut expenses or add to the top line to improve bottom-line results? Which is right for you? The answer might be both.
Daily large companies make headlines by announcing layoffs and job cuts. While investors like job cuts because they appear to provide a quick reduction of expenses, they have a significant long-term, negative effect and may not produce real savings.
The focus is on the number of positions and salary dollars saved rather than boosting individual and group productivity, which have positive long-term impacts on profits. In a smaller organization, you are not worried about investors but are concerned about tangible results.
Thoughtful and reasonable reduction in personnel may be a realistic and beneficial strategy, especially if the level of need has dropped due to improved production or less business requests.
I am working with a company that recently automated a segment of their customer ordering process and as a result, needs less people. Importantly, they need them to do different tasks and have different skills. The shift in priority and re-skilling is not easy but provides a great boost in productivity.
Over the years, I have discovered that organizations are much like plants, needing proper pruning to produce more fruit or the best fruit. If an activity or individual is not productive and contributing to the health and profits of the organization, it cannot be afforded in today’s environment.
As executives, we must learn this harsh reality and minimize the need to replace individuals by keeping employees and the group productive.
There is a constructive, logical way to prune an organization to cause it to produce more results.
First, continually increase expectations of results to avoid staff from getting into a rut or becoming complacent. Challenge each staff member to improve skills, knowledge and become more proficient. Keep them focused on the tasks that produce the greatest return for their efforts. Focus on output, not input.
Next, challenge the process and even the need for doing tasks. It is easy to get into a rut and continue doing tasks that changes and improvements have made redundant or at least, less productive. Engage the staff to always look for better, more efficient ways to carry out each function.
Even with these steps, the staff may require pruning because it eliminates non-productive, dead wood as well as those who may be creating disruption or problems. Skillful pruning will increase productivity because of an increased focus on results and the inherent human drive to stay ahead of the group. Athletes perform better when the field is competitive; so does your staff.
Last week I spoke with the president of a large national manufacturing company who was espousing the “Jack Welch performance theory” of continuously eliminating a percentage of the bottom-performing employees to boost overall productivity.
However, in the situation we were discussing, the performance metrics or what constitutes performance were not clearly defined. It is essential that performance measurement be based on the real metrics of performance and not based on outdated ones.
Before pruning, be sure what is expected is accurately and clearly defined.
Beyond the performance metrics, two key aspects to consider when pruning are the attitude and the ability to manage the individual.
Even though an individual may make positive contributions in many areas, if the individual is causing disruptions and reducing the productivity of others, it can be a significant problem.
Especially today, staff members must have positive attitudes, must be manageable and must contribute to the success of the organization rather than dragging it, and you, down.
Skillful pruning can cause the organization to flourish by both reducing unnecessary costs and increasing top-line production.
When individual performance increases in your group, your performance as an executive also goes up.
Your performance is the sum of your staff measured by the results of your group.
Wayne Outlaw is a speaker and consultant. E-mail him at wayne@outlawgroup.com
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