Fear Increases Productivity For Some

A few interesting findings from the Fear Survey

Some business leaders feel that fear has increased their organizational productivity.

1. They are producing more per person than in the past.
2. People are staying on the job longer (reduced turnover). The consequences of this are reduction of the learning curve impact from on-boarding new employees.
3. The longer employees are on the job, the faster and more effectively they produce results.
4. People feel they have to demonstrate their strength of performance in order not to be laid off.
5. People are producing better quality and less waste because of tenure, fear of losing their job, etc.
6. There are fewer people and they are assuming expanded accountability for performance. So more is being produced by fewer people.
7. Do you have additional reasons?

What is the fear that is driving this increase in productivity?

• People are in fear for job security.
• Fear of income flow loss.
• People are in fear of the unknown future.
• People are in fear of losing their importance (their job is their image of themselves).
• People are in fear of not finding as good a job as they currently have.
• People are in fear of not finding a title as good as they currently have (career progression fear).
• Others??

The question is; "Is this increased productivity gain sustainable as the economy stabilizes and/or improves?"

What are your thoughts?

Chad

http://brightsideblogger.blogspot.com/

Take a look at the Bright Side blog.
I'll still be posting thoughts to this blog as well as to the Bright Side one.
Chad

Strategic Planning is relevant to the context

I was working with an executive last week to prepare for a strategic planning session to update a plan that had been initially assembled in February.

What I learned and pondered after a couple of pre-planning sessions was:

1. Sometimes we have a solid grasp of "what" we want to do, to the exclusion of considering alternatives.
2. Most of us feel very comfortable with a pre-economic downturn model for strategic planning.
3. Some corporate C-suite executives thinking is still at the level of the business entity.
4. Some corporate C-suite thinking is not yet broad enough to encompass a singular corporate entity concept in context and scope.
5. Some people are far too controlling around the "what" is to be focused on, and limit the scope of their direct reports accordingly.
6. Sometimes the "How" to get work accomplished is neglected in the push to get the "What" done.

My awareness (some new, some renewed) from this encounter were:

1. Leaders are still trusting their company's future to plans based on past history.
2. Corporate entity scope and context are significantly different than internal divisions/groups even if these internal entities are larger than most free-standing companies.
3. Leaders who control the strategic planning process too tightly are doing a disservice to their direct reports career development.
4. Fear of the unknown causes some leaders to limit others view of the possibilities and options present even in difficult times.
5. The discipline to balance the "What" and "How" of performance is understood and valued by only the most experienced top leaders.
6. As Chris Argyris would say, "Teaching Smart People How to Learn" is a tough job.

What do you think??

Chad