Optimize Productivity and On Time Performance Through Team Empowerment and Collaboration

I speak with business executives daily from Fortune 100 companies to small businesses, and they often are concerned with workforce productivity and on time performance. In my experience, the larger the organization, the more concerning this is. Typically, there are two main reasons for organizational inefficiency and poor or mediocre performance. First, middle managers think they can motivate associates to follow their lead by managing associates to complete tasks they are assigned. This generally does not work. Second, there is usually a disconnect between the vision, mission and business objectives set forth by C-Suite executives, and the operational objectives of middle managers and associates. The keys to optimized productivity and on time performance are organizational engagement and optimized individual and team contribution. The best way to assure organizational engagement and team contribution is to; 1) expect middle managers to manage budgets, programs and operations that support high level strategic business objectives, mentor associates, not manage associates, (2 give associates clear descriptions of roles, responsibilities, expectations and how they are to collaborate with others in the business, 3) empower associates to make decisions within their scope of responsibility and have all the tools and resources required to get the job done, and 4) breakdown organizational silos and promote collaboration within and between teams and groups. Most businesses spend a lot of time, energy and cost to recruit, train and foster capable smart associates, and then are not enabling them to contribute the extent of their capabilities to help the business succeed in achieving their business objectives. By aligning the businesses high level strategic objectives with operational objectives and associate roles and responsibilities, and promoting and enabling cross organizational collaboration, operational productivity and on time performance can be optimized and be the key to achieving challenging strategic objectives.