Top 10 Mistakes That Founders and CXOs Do While Measuring Productivity

Although many start-ups have great ideas, excellent products, and dedicated owners, the sad reality is that many never make it through the third year. Monitoring productivity is highly essential to ensure that your business dream doesn’t turn into a full nightmare.

We’ve all heard the statistic that more than half of the new businesses fail. According to this myth, even though the actual figure is far lower, beginning an enterprise is undeniably arduous and risky, regardless of the actual quantity. However, you can be one of the businesses that succeeds if you can learn from others and avoid some of the classic rookie blunders.

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A successful firm relies on high levels of productivity as a foundational tenet. However, the majority of companies are going about it incorrectly. Increasing productivity in the twenty-first century involves more than just “output optimization,” which has long dominated best practices in business. There are many platforms such as Okr program and agile collaboration tool that helps organizations in measuring the productivity correctly.  Instead, productivity is more complex, taking into account traditional “input/output” statistics and the human toll of meeting those demands at any given time.

Productivity – The Ten Common Mistakes To Avoid While Measuring It

A good intention isn’t enough to avoid making one of these typical blunders while evaluating the performance of employees. Keep an eye out for this type of behavior, so you can avoid the hazards it brings.

a. The most number of hours

One of the most typical blunders managers make when attempting to gauge the efficacy of their workforce is concentrating solely on the number of hours worked. To define production, we must look at how much is produced in relation to what is put into it. Simply quantifying the number of hours worked, resources used, and money spent isn’t enough to determine productivity.

Keep in mind that the formula for productivity is: Productivity is a function of output/input.

Although some people may put in more hours at work than others, this does not necessarily mean they are the most effective members of your team.

b. The loudest

The loudest staff are frequently rewarded, a blunder made by many firms. I’m referring to the people who are constantly boasting about their accomplishments and how vital they are to the rest of the world. Every email he sent ended with an announcement of the “important thing he was doing that day,” as one of my coworkers put it. He had to ensure that the people were aware of the significance of what he was doing.

c. Sending the highest number of emails

“Email spammer,” formerly known as a “paper pusher,” has made the leap into the twenty-first century. It is important to note that this only works if organizations mistakenly regard email barrages as legitimate work.

d. Not being serious with status updates

Information in status updates is the only thing that matters. No one will read your updates if you keep sending out pointless ones. Status updates that aren’t real can be just as harmful. Organizations are now embracing automated tools such as okr software, performance management system and agile collaboration tool that helps them in recording the progress of the objectives. 

e. Over-dedicated

Over-dedication might be mistaken for good work in today’s fast-paced, job-hopping society. Consider the case of a organization that rewards an employee for their dedication to the company by awarding them a leadership prize if they work overtime and on weekends. Is this a sign of commitment or an attempt to strike an unattainable work-life balance?

f. No Scale for Measuring

Is there even a definition of success in your company? What unit of measurement are you using? Having no idea how to maintain track of a company’s progress might lead to dissatisfaction among its employees. Employees at one company receive an annual success trip as a form of recognition. Despite this, employees are left perplexed year after year as to why the specific staff is awarded despite the lack of clearly defined criteria.

g. Inability to keep score

Many businesses lack the discipline to keep track of their progress. When it comes to some people, this is a purposeful decision. Recognizing an employee’s performance sometimes boils down to a manager’s personal preferences or gut emotions. Unfortunately, it’s not a reliable indicator of future success.

h. Absurd Priority or Goal

The quickest way to fall off track is to increase your speed without giving any thought to your destination. Regardless of how productive your staff is, if your organization has a clear vision or strategy, it doesn’t matter how hard they work. They are merely putting in time for the sake of it.

i. Failure to Meet Expectations or Deadlines

In many cases, deadlines and goals are set just to be “explained away” in the future. It’s true that the deadline was missed, but that’s fine. In other words, we didn’t meet our sales targets, but we gave it our best shot. Tough love doesn’t always provide the best results; the hard truth often does.

j. Doing as many things as possible

This is the “Busy Bee Syndrome.” It has a lot in common with #1. In this scenario, though, productivity is measured by the sheer number of tasks done. Whatever the outcome, it doesn’t really matter whether or not they were the proper assignments. However, they accomplished an incredible amount of work.

To put it another way, productivity is about how much value a team contributes to a company, not the amount of work it does. Regardless of the measures used, a company’s productivity should always be based on the concept of value.

For more insights and guidance on guiding your organization towards high productivity, reach out to us today!