Productive.
But not at any price.
We help individuals, teams and organisations work productively and sustainably. Our productivity focus is all about supporting employees to learn and apply the key principles of productive work, in a way that reflects their role and responsibilities, and that can be used over the long term.
There’s little point in adopting a style of working that only works in the short-term, but causes long-term problems. That’s what it feels like when employees focus on ‘just getting through’ the week, putting in an effort that can’t be maintained without a cost to their performance and wellbeing.
That’s why we emphasise a need for sustainable productivity.
How can people be more productive at work?
The term productivity is unfortunately often weaponised, to imply endless, increasing production of output. When people think of productivity, their mind often turns straight to ‘life hacks’ and shortcuts, when the truth is a lot more straightforward.
We work with the following definition of productivity: doing the right thing, in the right way, at the right time. This definition speaks to the importance of clarifying priorities and why they matter. It emphasises a need to bring focus and quality to our work. Plus effective scheduling to side-step procrastination or last-minute rushes. This definition doesn’t refer to doing more, doing it all, or squeezing value out of every waking moment.
Improving productivity for an individual or a team needs to be sensitive to their work context: the organisation, its purpose, their role and their responsibilities.
That said, several principles of productivity hold true regardless of the context, including:
- Being clear on what matters
- A focus on the present moment
- The importance of prioritisation
- Reflection and planning
- Leveraging systems over chasing targets
- Recognising and stepping back from procrastination
How can productivity be improved sustainably?
When we add sustainability into the equation, it reminds us of the importance of acknowledging that we’re humans, not machines. And that rest and sleep contribute positively to our performance at work. As humans, we need to be aware of our limited resources: time, attention and energy.
To leverage these effectively, we need to:
- Invest in self-care, rest and sleep proactively, not just when we can't continue
- Develop effective coping responses to challenges and setbacks
- Learning to connect our tasks and projects with our values and purpose
- Think beyond the day and the week, avoiding unsustainable sprints or efforts
How do wellbeing and productivity connect?
These two concepts are intimately entwined. Unfortunately, they’re often framed as in conflict. We’ve heard leaders say they’ll invest in wellbeing initiatives once productivity improves – rather than seeing wellbeing as the prerequisite for performance at work!
It’s very difficult to be productive at work if job-related stress is making you ill! Employees can’t do their best when overwhelmed by the demands of their job, conflict with colleagues or navigating taxing organisational change.
Likewise, it’s hard to thrive at work if your workload is unsustainable. Long hours, a failure to disconnect and self-imposed perfectionism can all erode our health over time. Both these scenarios have implications for wellbeing, performance and employee turnover.