Productivity Optimism

It’s about Machines, Macro-trends and the Mood of the Moment

Combine our collective preoccupation with occupation and a pandemic that’s keeping us away from the bustle of our offices. Naturally, people productivity is now a staple in so many executive debates. Some swear by the virtues of remote working, others argue to establish the opposite. But what I want to do is simply make a case for productivity optimism and let you come to your own conclusions.

Machines will move the needle now. Software-powered machines have been touted as the big productivity drivers of our time. But paradoxically, tech-driven productivity has stagnated over the past decade. Experts argue that real productivity boosts will only be realized when waves of downstream innovations, which leverage these emerging technologies, are developed and implemented. This was true of game-changing inventions like electricity too. It took generations of complementary inventions, like new kinds of shop floors and factories and machines, before electrification could revitalize enterprise productivity. Today, as our workshops and offices are forced to shut or slow down to protect our workers, so many of us can’t help but ask if more tech-led, autonomous business and operating models could have assuaged the economic damage. And that very question will bring us to the inflection point where new advances will proliferate and give technology the fillip it needs to deliver on its productivity potential. Think AI-driven systems, drone delivery, mainstream digital contactless payments, 3D manufacturing, Ivy League online schools, wearable health monitors, smart robotics, voice mobile apps. So many things that we’ve been thinking about and experimenting with will now become general-purpose. Smart and emerging technology will ubiquitously penetrate our workplaces as well in the form of highly digitized productivity-amplifiers for remote- and office-workers. For example, context-specific, persona-specific nudges to learn or even prioritize and reprioritize critical tasks.  All of this won’t be automatic, of course. It will come with the abundance of entrepreneurship that’s often seen in times of recovery and reconstruction.

Macro-trends that’ll strengthen our productive capacity. These days, busy as we continue to be, in the absence of visibly shared work routines, the hum of office printers spewing paper and the orchestrated clicking of keypads, we have learnt a lesson or two. One, given the right context, productive work can be executed anytime, anywhere. Two, the real measure of productivity is not effort, but outcomes. In fact, from weeks of having avoided the bane of the urban worker’s reality – the commute to work - and worked remotely instead, we now find ourselves discovering the merits of making smaller packets of effort, in bursts of greater intensity and often going on for longer hours. We’ll find ways of bringing that work rhythm to our offices too. The hybrid model of working from office and home will come to be the effective new norm. Simultaneously, businesses focused on becoming more resilient will mark their tactics with greater checks on overheads and lower capital outlays. If they can access options to get tasks done reliably and on-demand, they are more likely to question the need to hire full-time employees, especially for new roles created to drive exploratory projects that they will now initiate as part of their recovery. And why not, when studies indicate that employees spend under three hours each day working productively, and that, in an ideal environment, the majority believes the day’s workload could be completed in just five hours? The enterprise workforce will now lean more heavily on the gig economy.  A similar logic will also drive global talent value chains. Now, more than ever, businesses will need the productivity of ‘follow the sun’ work patterns for their regional manufacturing supply chains.

Mellowing of our work personas. Stop to think of how we begin our work conversations these days. We ask after the other person’s health, the family and if all is well, before we start even the most pressing business conversations. That’s empathy beginning to mark the way we relate to people at work. This in turn, will lead us to invest more of ourselves in our teams, our work ecosystems and in our workplaces. Some part of this stickiness to our current work environment also stems from a renewed sense of appreciation for the security and livelihood that a steady job provides. Employers in turn are coming to rely on a management style of trust and empowerment. The pecking order will become more networked and less hierarchical. This will build a culture conducive for better work, better collaboration and therefore productivity. We will easily straddle disciplines and skills as we go from one project or role to another. We will bring more creativity to the table born in our reflective moments from remote working and in-person collaborations. We will apply this to not just solving problems but also finding problems that will in turn create opportunities for our companies and for us to grow. All of this will indeed make us more productive, but also compel us to reconsider who we are and what we value, and, in the long run, perhaps help us become better employees, colleagues and managers too.

As we seek to establish a new equilibrium for work – in our offices and homes – the hybrid model must be fine-tuned and honed to fit seamlessly. Else, the signals of work can blend into the noise of life at home. Workplace cultures can wither starved of authentic real-world interactions. Endless debates can stem from a want of empirical productivity measures. And a lot else. On the contrary, if we perfect this balancing act, we’ll take a productivity leap. I like to think we’ll find a way to strike that balance.