Maximum Human Productivity
Human Productivity is influenced by 4 factors: the motivating factors of personal motivation and organizational culture and the tools and processes used by the organization and the people in the organization. These tools and processes can include equipment and software and the methods used to manage email, tasks and projects.
The Layers of Execution
Organizational Excellence is all about execution. The traditional model of execution is to try to install a “culture of accountability.” While there is a need for this culture, this addresses only one of the four nodes that control human productivity. We must address the processes of human productivity to affect execution.
In reality, there are 4 layers of execution. The bottom layers of personal and process execution must be laid before organizational execution can be achieved.
I believe we need to improve the tools and processes used by the organization and its people to maximize human productivity. We must concentrate our efforts on addressing the tools and processes that affect the foundation of organizational excellence – personal and process execution.
Personal Execution
The first of the two foundation layers of execution is “Personal Execution.” People in the organization can only execute when they have control of all their tasks, projects, meetings, emails and records. Inboxes that are overflowing, tasks that slip through the cracks or projects that never get completed are signs that personal execution is lacking.
I use the “Personal Execution Model”, below, to model and organize personal execution. As we can see, items a person needs to do can be organized in two axis – the horizontal time axis and the vertical importance axis. This two-axis arrangement is not new, Stephen Covey defined Quadrant’s I -IV in his “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, but we use these axes to specifically guide our process of personal execution.
Laid out in this model are the four types of tasks we need to understand, manage, control and accomplish – personal tasks (such as phone calls, emails, meetings, reading mail, etc.), tasks we are waiting on others for (perhaps tasks delegated to staff), tasks from organizational “production” systems (tasks from the actual value-added work an organization does) and tasks from projects.
Incorporating Urgency
What is urgency? Webster’s defines something as “urgent” if is calling for immediate attention. But when is something urgent?
I define urgency as the relationship between the amount of time a task will take and the time left to complete it. A task that is due at 5:00 PM may not be urgent if it takes 5 minutes to complete and it is only 8 AM, but that same task may be urgent at 4:55 PM. Project managers will recognize this definition as analogous to slack time.
The Human Productivity Model incorporates urgency by defining the amount of time individual tasks will take and then comparing them to the amount of time left.
Process Execution
The second layer of the foundation is “Process Execution.” Before a team or organization can achieve excellence of execution, individual processes must be repeatable and achieve their goals.
Using the standardization philosophy from Lean and process improvement tools such as Six Sigma, processes can be created that do maximize human productivity.
Process improvement must be based on the following:
1. Focus on outcomes— process improvement must focus on improving the output results of the process.
2. Take a systems view— the process must be analyzed in relationship to the entire business and other processes it may touch.
3. Work with all stakeholders— all stakeholders in the process—workers, managers, customers, suppliers– must be consulted in the process improvement project.
