Articles

This year has begun with a renewed focus on increasing workplace productivity in order to maintain our standard of living as our population grows and competitive demands increase. 

Naturally, perhaps, the initial response was of concern about an ageing workforce being required to work longer and harder in order to pay for their retirement and increased health care costs. And the response, just as naturally, was that it's about "working smarter".

Productivity isn't just an economic theory. It's as much a daily and personal issue as a commercial and strategic one. All of us try to get as much positive return for our efforts as we can and we are always on the lookout for new and better ways to squeeze more in. 

Which brings us to a couple of quick definitions and then to the issue of "leading smarter" through greater "leadership productivity".

Physical productivity is the quantity of output delivered by one unit of production input in a unit of time. Economic productivity is the value of output delivered by a unit of input. (Source: www.economicswebinstitute.org)

To these perhaps we can add a working definition for "leadership productivity": "the value of output delivered in response to our leadership input".

After all, leadership is about producing results. It's about creating and sustaining the performance that produces those results. And it's about generating the engagement that drives improved performance. Each of these measures or outputs speaks in some way about our leadership productivity - the effectiveness of the input activities that we contribute in order to derive results.

So, what are some of the leadership "inputs" that we typically deploy to get the "outputs" we desire?

Consider these ten common leadership actions or behaviours (which are drawn from among the things workshop participants commonly say they expect from those leading them):
* Giving clear direction
* Setting the example
* Motivating and providing vision
* Supporting - including appropriate resources and backing
* Giving honest, constructive feedback
* Recognising achievements
* Communicating clear expectations
* Providing opportunities for growth and development
* Upholding standards
* Letting people get on with things!

The first producivity question, then, is how many of these leadership inputs we regularly and consistently apply. After all, as W. Edwards Deming (1900-1993, quality improvement expert) once said: "It's not enough to do your best. You must know what to do and then do your best". 

Are there leadership inputs that we don't yet know are available to or expected of us? Are there activities that we ignore, avoid, resist or just forget?

Sometimes, just being reminded of the need for a particular input activity can be a worthwhile "note to self" to focus on that activity - particularly where the situation has special requirements for that "input".

And if the list of 10 inputs above generated a mental "yes to all" response?

Consider how effectively you are managing and delivering these inputs. (The second part of Deming's quote.) How well, for example, do we give clear directions, or provide opportunities for growth and development? And how well do we manage the deployment of a particular input activity according to situational needs?

Remember, the essence of the Situational Leadership® approach is that we adapt our behaviour (leadership input) according to the individual's or group's task needs. (Which means that Situational Leadership® is very much about "leading smarter".)

Taken together, these two steps - identifying the range of leadership inputs we are using and then considering how effectively we manage and deliver each according to our team's situational needs - can enable us to measurably improve our leadership productivity.

Developing our leadership productivity not only drives improved team and organisational productivity, it also improves our personal and professional productivity. 

In 2010, as always, leadership productivity is about "leading smarter".



Aubrey Warren
Situational Leadership® Australia