Is your Productivity issue an ishyou?
There are two ways to drive productivity:
- better leadership
- better processes and systems
Both work, but if you have to prioritise, developing better leaders generates staff who are more engaged and give more discretionary effort. And then they will develop better processes and systems voluntarily. It doesn't really work so well the other way round...
The leadership spectrum ranges from:
Command-and-Control, which drives compliance fuelled by fear and anxiety. It’s entirely appropriate in extreme situations e.g. urgent, novel, high stakes situations. It's quick and easy, because there’s no need for discussion. And it's clear, because it’s source is from one voice. But it culls your biggest source of extra productivity: discretionary effort.
to:
Care-and-Collaboration, which develops capability fuelled by relevance and freedom. It’s slow, because ‘ask’ takes longer than ‘tell’. And it creates multiple options which creates conflict. And letting people off the lead results in herding cats. But crucially, it cultivates discretionary effort.
What’s the issue?
Lencioni observed that trust underpins everything. If you have trust issues with your staff, there are only 2 possible root causes:
1 It’s an issue that’s actually an ‘ish-them’ – in which case grasp the nettle and performance manage them up or out.
2 It’s an ‘ish-you’ – in which case kudos for your self-awareness, but now you need to do something about that, namely adapting your leadership behaviour.
Consider this
Put it this way, if most of your people are only working at or near the bare minimum required to avoid being fired, think about whether any command-and-control tendencies you might have are the solution to that issue, or the cause of it. If you’re frustrated that your staff are not being proactive and not going the extra mile, they're either a) lazy, or b) incapable or c) afraid of getting it wrong. Lazy and incapable could be an ish-them or an ish-you. A culture of fear and anxiety though is almost certainly going to be a function of your leadership.
Try this
Next time you sense you’re about to give someone a directive, or disregard their proposal, or wade in to sort an issue out, stop. Let them take it. That doesn't mean walk away - because that's abdication not delegation (subject for another week) - but step aside. You're paying these people good money, so give them a chance to fully earn it by giving them the room to go further than your instructions can ever take them.
At HPC, we developed Adaptability-Based Leadership with the express purpose of raising productivity through more engaged, better led staff. If that approach resonates, contact me and let’s get you started on the next phase of your journey towards mastering leadership.