Boost Your Team's Performance: Addressing Productivity Issues Effectively

It never ceases to amaze me to see the mental gymnastics that some people perform to avoid confronting an uncomfortable truth. Today’s episode sees an article in a major British newspaper suggesting that productivity is low, so the answer is to ban smartphones in the workplace.

There are so many issues with this that it is difficult to know where to start. But let’s go straight to the elephant in the room. The argument here is that people are doing less work because they are wasting time on their smartphones instead. It sounds a reasonable hypothesis on the face of it. You want employees to focus on the tasks that they are paid to perform rather than being distracted by other things, and we all know that a smartphone can easily pass hours without you even realising what is happening.

But it feels like we have been here before, with personal use of work computers, the internet, and phones before that. The reasons why people may be less productive than you would like are usually much more complex than a distraction being readily available. I will never forget a hard-working former manager of mine who, in response to some ludicrous directive about internet use at work, announced that he had never needed a computer to not do his work. If people are not engaged with their job, feel no loyalty to their employer, or are just bored witless, stopping them from using their smartphone at work is not going to make them work harder, it is just going to drive them to doing something else with added resentment.

When I am engaged on a task that is worthwhile, that uses my strengths, and that is rewarding both in terms of seeing results and me being recognised for my work, no distraction is big enough to sidetrack me. But when I am fed up with how I am being treated, feel like I am not listened to, and am poorly rewarded and recognised no matter how hard I work, taking away my phone is not going to make me suddenly feel motivated. I have been known to stare out of the window seeking inspiration, so will the next step be to put me in a windowless room the whole time that I am working?

People using smartphones when they should be working is the symptom not the cause. Employees have dodged work and slacked off for as long there has been workplaces. Similarly, employees who are valued and treated well have worked hard no matter the distractions.

I am in no way defending those who spend their lives doing as little as possible day in, day out.? Anyone who has worked in large organisations for any length of time will have come across these characters. It is not about what they are doing instead of working, it is about their complete aversion to working at all. Yet despite everyone generally knowing exactly who they are, they never seem to get caught up in the latest management productivity drive. Some of them are even part of the management team promoting the need for hard work!

As usual with the modern workplace, managers go straight to the stick without even remembering that the carrot exists. Treat people well and they will work hard. Simple. But that costs managers money, time, and effort. So instead, we get these ridiculous ideas, along with office attendance targets and time recording of everything employees do to enforce productivity.

When will leaders focus on what people do and the real drivers that impact this instead of all this gimmicky nonsense? Assess people on their results, even if they do not get them in the same way that you would, provided that this does not mean bullying or abusing others.

I have always worked in bursts rather than a steady slog, which of course means that inevitably whenever my manager walked past my desk I would be staring into space rather than visibly toiling away. But what I have never had in 34 years of work is a single complaint about my productivity. Not one. I am not saying that I am particularly virtuous, and I do not think that I work any harder than the majority of my colleagues. But I do work differently to produce the same results. Why is this so hard for so many leaders to understand?

Smartphones are part of modern life. People use them to stay in touch with family, childcare providers, and to keep an eye on their property while they are at work. Then add in the times that I have used my personal phone to access public information because the work IT was just not up to the job! Banning them in the workplace would just be a further breakdown of the trust between manager and employees which is so vital to a successful business yet completely overlooked on a daily basis.

If you have a productivity issue, banning smartphones is not the answer. To find out what will really make a difference, speak to your staff and listen to what they say, however uncomfortable it may be to hear. Treat them well, and they will work hard for you. It is not difficult, but it does take effort.

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