December
What have you tried to get your people to show up on time, stay late, and forget about lunch breaks?
If you, just like many other higher ups, are trying new ways to inspire or motivate your team to show up ten minutes before work and remain there to increase overall productivity, then you’re going about it the wrong way. Productivity shouldn’t be measured by how much time spent at work, productivity should be measured by how many goals have been met. So the real question to ask is, what goals do you expect from your people?
I’m pretty sure that you have a lot of standards for your employees to follow. You probably ask them to show up early, stay a little bit late, participate in every meeting, expect them to finish their jobs within a set period, and don’t take off during the busiest times. Moreover, you probably reward your people, through promotions, special extras, and acknowledgment of a job well done, when they go beyond their positions – staying late, completing projects before their due dates, or even working on a Sunday.
Nevertheless, just because you see your employees coming in on time and leaving a little bit late, doesn’t mean they’re exceeding goals. Some people work their best in the morning, others are more alive in the evening. Some folks get things down when they’re at the office, others like to bang out their best work at coffee shops.
Besides work ethic and habits, if your people feel like they should be somewhere else—boyfriend/girlfriend, family, friends, or acquaintances – they’ll be too worried about it to be productive.
Surely, your people know when they work their best. Even if you’re the most motivational person in the world, you still have to let your employees work their own schedules, time lines and setting, you really have to strive for that level of productivity in order to make your business a success.
Your people have one goal: to help you run the business. So who cares if they slave away at their desk, working long hours, if they didn’t even bring in a new client? Why do you care if they take three-hour lunches when their work is already finished? Who cares if they work from home, as long as they finish the projects ahead of time?
The only thing that matters is, are they finishing the work on time to guarantee company survival. So give them a project and see how they go about completing it. Otherwise, they’re just working to pass the time, not for the company vision.
Moreover, when you lead by objectives, your people will hone their natural skills, which gives them peace of mind, and when your people are less anxious, they work better and stay on top of their game, even when opportunities arise.
And of course I can’t forget about you – yep, by sticking to this model you’ll be more productive, too. When you’re set on getting people to show up on time, it’s only a matter of time before you start to forget about your own goals. But when you change your wording — what do you expect from your people — you mentally train yourself to see beyond the norm, beyond punching in and punching out, and outline objectives that kick starts your company forward.
So forget about your position, concentrate on results, and give your people the chance and opportunity to do what they naturally do. Punching in and out mean nothing when you’re measuring results, I know you can’t argue with that.
