Jul 10 2023
Creating a Productivity Culture
At Leaders, we believe it is the responsibility of the leader to create the conditions within the organisation to ensure everyone in the workplace has the opportunity to flourish and be the best version of themselves. This isn’t just good for each individual, creating this environment will also encourage people to do their best work and is, therefore, a must for a genuine, sustainable, productive culture.
Steve Jobs said, ‘You cannot mandate productivity, you must provide the tools to let people become their best.’
But we know that everyone is different, has different requirements and is impacted differently by their environment, so is this merely aspirational? Is it possible to create a culture of productivity? We believe it is. And here are the four productive skills that every leader needs to practice and master to achieve them, along with four counter-productive skills that can undermine our best efforts if we don’t take care.
Ambition
Ambition is linked to passion and purpose.
It’s a strong desire and determination to do or achieve something.
An ambitious leader is one who strives to attain - through hard work, perseverance, and dedication, they move forward. They don’t give up! And that requires passion and clarity of purpose.
Ambition is the skill we need when the going gets tough and we feel like giving up. Leaders with a strong ambition skill make things happen – their dreams become goals, which when acted upon become accomplishments. This in itself is highly motivating and the sequence continues.
Without ambition, staleness and apathy set in. Organisations do not grow when leaders have a defeatist mindset.
Sometimes leaders misunderstand a defeatist mindset and mistake it for a noble one. For example, they consistently undercharge for the product or services they provide. Whilst it can be a noble act to offer services at a reduced rate occasionally for a charity or non-profit, if this becomes a habit it undermines ambition. Very quickly a leader may find themselves damaging their business and reputation because they are routinely giving up the opportunity to gain proper fees. They lose money, credibility, and respect. Taking this to the extreme could result in the business going bankrupt.
What is your passion and purpose?
What dream do you need to break down into smaller goals?
Where do you need to root out staleness and apathy?
Accountability
This is the skill of taking care of what matters to us and to others and doing so in a timely manner. To master accountability, we need to act in the right way at the right time. These are a few of the behaviours you will observe in leaders who practice accountability:
They follow through on promises.
They respect everyone’s time and attend meetings promptly and prepared.
They set high standards and hold themselves to account by living them.
They own their mistakes; they do not shift blame.
They take care of their own well-being and model that to their people.
They seek feedback.
They make it safe to speak up.
Accountability builds trust but consistency is essential. So, leaders need to watch out for self-sabotaging behaviours that undermine accountability. These can slip in when we are vulnerable and will likely seem trifling at the time. It could be that we are tired and end up using our words carelessly, or we lose our focus and try to do too much. It’s impossible to be careful when you’re hurrying. When we aren’t at our best is when we need to be most careful, as it is at this time we are most likely to engage in self-sabotaging behaviours.
Leaders who are accountable walk the walk. This creates trust, innovation and collaboration, all essential ingredients of a culture of productivity. Where do you need to take more care?
Awareness
Awareness is the ability to see issues arising in advance, see what’s going on, and assess the risks to make an informed decision.
We practice awareness every day, from the moment we wake up, we are constantly taking in information from our surroundings. But absorbing the information is just the beginning, we must process it and allow it to better inform our decisions to avoid risk and danger. When we cross a road, we are exercising our awareness skills when we look both ways, notice the speed of any oncoming traffic and assess when it is safe to get across the road. If we ignore an assessed risk and do it anyway, that would be our recklessness skill! But for some leaders, the thrill of the gamble is too enticing but does not always end well.
Creating a productivity culture requires a leader who is aware of their surroundings, the situation, and the people in them and makes informed decisions accordingly. It could be argued that Colgate lacked awareness when they sought to diversify their product range in the 1980s and launched a range of ‘Colgate Kitchen Entrees’. This new product line failed quickly and begs the question – what market research did Colgate do, who did they speak to and how did they come to the decision that this was a good idea?
Awareness helps us develop a level of sophistication and understanding that is essential for leading a successful organisation. Leaders need to ensure they are seeking out good, credible information from a variety of sources and perspectives so they can assess and focus their time and resources well.
Where are you getting your information from?
How are you processing it?
What are the gaps in your knowledge?
Who else do you need to speak to?
Agility
This skill is the ability to quickly identify the problem, embrace whatever change is necessary and develop the situation into something better. Leaders hone their agility skills so they can resolve issues and challenges with hope. They know there are solutions to be found so they set about finding them.
Whilst the exact number varies depending on the source, Thomas Edison reportedly made over 1,000 attempts before he succeeded in inventing the light bulb. Edison believed there was a solution, and he was confident he would find it. When asked how it felt to fail so many times he simply replied ‘I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.’ Imagine if, after the first few attempts, he gave up, thought I can’t do this, it’s too difficult I’m not going to bother?
We live in a fast-paced world; for leaders and businesses to succeed they need to be agile. The alternative is that businesses die.
Take Kodak, for example, an incredibly successful, well-resourced photography business with a strong brand and an excellent reputation for quality. Even so, this giant of a company failed to innovate, they did not understand the significance of digital photography. The organisation lacked agility and failed as a result. A lack of agility led to a lack of innovation which is like oxygen for productivity, and without oxygen things die.
Are there areas that need a fresh look?
Have you got stuck in a loop?
Is there a different perspective that you can take that will provide a new solution?
Ambition, accountability, awareness and agility are all skills we measure in our daily work. If you want to find out more or hone your skills get in touch and let’s talk.
Let’s work together
We work with leaders from all industries. Using data-led insights, we identify leadership styles, strengths and weaknesses, then strategise how to move forward and improve.