Management Blog

Rethinking productivity

If you're serious about making operational improvements, the standard economic measures of productivity, such as dividing revenue by staff numbers or simply counting distributed product, may not be doing your enterprise any favours.

Business 2.0 suggests poor productivity measurement may actually be worse than no measurement at all. To help you rethink existing productivity measures, the publication outlines six metrics it believes are sure-fire workplace performance boosters.

The first of which is: ask your employees – "Who understands the convoluted job of your knowledge worker better than the worker himself?" Research has found that involving employees in the productivity measuring process makes them feel better about their jobs and improves their individual productivity.

Another tip is to ensure your metrics are multidimensional – separately examine which aspects of an employee's job are repetitive and which are creative. This will allow you to understand each worker's full contribution to productivity, match employees to the most appropriate job roles and keep an eye out for flashes of managerial flair.

More tips on productivity metrics here.

Get to the (Power) Point!

Over 30 million PowerPoint presentations are delivered across the world every day. But despite its ubiquity, many people are quite clueless about how to use the programme properly and as a result are boring their audience to tears writes Jared Sandberg in The Wall Street Journal.

According to the article, creating a powerful PowerPoint presentation isn't rocket science, it's as simple as taking the time to understand what works and what doesn't. The following tips could be just what you need to become a PowerPoint maestro:

• The biggest no-no is providing too much written content. People don't want to read paragraphs of text as well as hear the same information and the same time. They want to be engaged by the speaker, so bullet points will suffice. It helps not to go too far the other way and offer just one meaningless or obtuse word on screen.
• Don't expect the program itself to do all the work. "PowerPoint proponents say slideware doesn't bore people, people bore people." Make sure your presentation skills are up to scratch: a well thought-out, well-presented PowerPoint presentation should be complemented by the skills of an engaging, lively speaker.
• Get feedback. Don't fool yourself that your last presentation was good just because people clapped; they might have just been glad it was over. Before a major presentation ask colleagues for honest feedback that will help you hone your PowerPoint delivery skills.

Who's making the decisions around here?

A lack of clarity in the decision making process can squander resources and result in lost opportunities according to a recent article in Strategy+Business magazine that stresses the importance of ensuring managers understand their decision rights. In a nutshell, decision rights are the articulation of which people are authorised to make specific organisational and strategic decisions.

The first step to solidifying decision rights is the development of a decision inventory; a process that involves listing routine decisions and defining who is responsible for that decision. This exercise (think of it as Spring cleaning for decision making procedures) forces a company to reconsider how it makes everyday decisions in a process that can ferret out overlapping or inadequate decision rights.

Of course, the decision making process is rarely straightforward. With this in mind, the article says companies should take a clustered approach to decision making in high-risk situations. The clustered approach is said to ensure decisions are made in a structured process by groups of key people with the appropriate information and perspective.

"By articulating the logic behind the decision-making clout of each cluster of people, this method manages the changing dynamics of the business environment much more effectively than a decision inventory alone."

Gen Y versus Baby Boomers

They're tech savvy, they're confident, they're spenders, they're everywhere! Are you over the hype surrounding Generation Y? Baby Boomer and demographer Bernard Salt is, and to prove the point he has composed an entertaining list of what he finds most annoying about Generation Y.

One of the many myths Salt attempts to bust in his recent article in The Australian is the often stated characteristic that Generation Y members don't fear the future. And why should they, vents Salt: "They have never experienced recession; they think the world is happy and rich all the time; they think, 'Why won't the future be just like the past?'"

Other concerns Baby Boomers may be inclined to have with the younger generation include Gen Y's apparent disdain for authority, a molly-cobbled upbringing, exposure to a non-competitive education system, lack of corporate loyalty and a desire to organise work around their life (as opposed to the Boomer's track-record of doing the opposite).

So where does the blame for all this lay? "Much of the problem with Generation Y is not Generation Y. It is Generation Y's Baby Boomer parents. It isn't Gen Y's fault that they have been born into small families and prosperous times. If they were indulged, who did the indulging?" says Salt.

It pays to be design smart

At a time in which more consumers than ever before are basing their purchasing decisions primarily on aesthetic factors it is vital to place a heavy investment in the design progress, according to Inc. magazine.

The article states that making 'smarter, better looking stuff' is the key to lasting returns for both small businesses (that hip burger store with the seriously cool, eco-friendly packaging) and major corporations (think Apple with just about everything they thrust into the market).

Another key benefit of good design - from marketing to packaging to product design - is that it can produce a higher perceived value for the product and strengthen brand loyalty. Clever design can also help you find significant cost efficiencies in terms of production and distribution processes.

Better decision making... instantly

Executives with a need for speed are taking advantage of software used by F1 drivers to make split second decisions based on hundreds of racecourse variables, such as track conditions, weather, competitor attributes and car performance, Time magazine reports.

The article says the software can help managers make lightning fast decisions by crunching huge amounts of data to determine possible strategic options and their probability of success. Possible business applications include considering the risks and opportunities involved in entering new markets, launching products or undertaking capital investments.

The programme is said to give credence to Donald Sull's popular management theory of 'strategic agility', an approach that suggests hidden opportunities can often be found in chaotic working environments. If so, predictive software may be just what you need to unearth a slew of strategic opportunities.

Think globally, act innovatively

Are you swimming with or against global trends? A recent article in McKinsey Quarterly explores the steps trend-savvy CEOs take when anticipating economic, social and business global influences and applying this knowledge to their company strategy.

The article underscores the value of informed trend spotting by discussing new research findings on innovation which suggests companies that 'adapt their portfolios to align themselves with favourable trends are more likely to achieve strong growth and profits.'

The key to successfully recognising a global movement is to look beyond the obvious to evaluate the sub-trends behind each trend. It's also vital to consider how trends interact with each other. Ten global trends and their implications are discussed in the article, these are:

1. The growing number of consumers in emerging economies and changing consumer tastes
2. The shift of economic activity between and within regions (e.g., To Asia or within the EU)
3. Greater ease of obtaining information and building knowledge
4. Increasingly global labour and talent markets
5. Increasing constraints in supply and usage of natural resources (e.g., environmental regulations)
6. Increasing communication/interaction in business and social realms as a result of technological innovation
7. Shifting industry structures/emerging forms of corporate organisation
8. Application of scientific techniques and approaches to business management
9. More intense social backlash against business
10. Growth of the pubic sector

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Minding your reputation

Several recent surveys on business integrity have found constituents don't just except big profits from big business, they also expect fair play and socially responsible conduct. However, all is not lost for companies touched by bad press or disparaging word of mouth. Transforming negative perceptions into positive ones is possible provided any makeovers go further than surface level spin doctoring.

Writing for the Fairfax Business Network, academic and management consultant Peter Verhezen identifies the determinants of reputation as: "corporate governance and leadership, financial performance and long term investment value, regulatory compliance, customer service, workplace talent and culture, corporate social responsibility and communications and crisis management."

Putting in the effort to understand the risks to reputation inherent in these determinants can offer a safeguard or help a company enhance its reputation. The payoff is priceless according to Verhezen who likens a good reputation to a healthy immune system or comprehensive car insurance.

For an example of how to get it right, think green. Companies with a predominantly environmental offering are cited as being adept at developing corporate strategies that balance social responsibility with profitability.

Find your inner artist

If you're on a quest for that spark of inspiration capable of bringing true innovation to life, try thinking like an artist. The following creative process characteristics - summarised from a recent CIO magazine article - outline how artists approach their work.

How artists think:

1. They immerse themselves in their subject… they live it, breathe it and don't leave it alone until they create something new.
2. Artists often work with others to combine different ideas to develop something entirely new.
3. They don't put up walls or reject an idea because it might seem odd at the time.

And once you've found your inspiration and finalised that world beating idea, you should follow the lead of artists who take time off to recharge before starting their next major project. As the article puts it, 'all work and no play makes a dull CIO, and no dull CIO has a chance as an innovator.'

Friends at work: mistake or mandatory?

Making friends at work has the potential to speed up your career trajectory but when good friendships go bad, it can have a profoundly negative impact on your professional life according to a new book on the subject.

Friendshifts: The Power of Friendship and How it Shapes Our Lives warns a lot is at stake when you decide to share information, such as personal life details, views about the company and negative experiences with colleagues, to a friend at work.

On the plus side, having a mate in the office can connect you to valuable inside information, provide feedback on your performance and make the working week more creative, productive and enjoyable.

But do workplace friendships stand the test of time?

If two people share the same values, yes. However it's worth noting that work friendships are generally different from external relationships because people often hold back from revealing too much to a colleague and as a result never achieve a deep, lasting connection.