Four ways HR can improve business productivity. Practical advice for HR professionals
| Published date | 14 November 2016 |
| Pages | 273-274 |
| Date | 14 November 2016 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/SHR-08-2016-0076 |
| Author | Lynn Scott |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Employee behaviour |
Four ways HR can improve business
productivity
Practical advice for HR professionals
Lynn Scott
Lynn Scott is Director at Lynn
Scott Coaching Ltd, Settle, UK. We all want to be more
productive without working
longer or harder. And yet
with all the technology at our
fingertips and the apps that claim
to help us organise our lives –
things we could only dream of as
little as ten years ago – there is
still a big problem with productivity
(or lack of) in many organisations.
Many of us are overwhelmed and
struggling to “get it all done” and
constantly bombarded with
information 24/7.
Human Resources Departments
(HRD) are often asked to “find a
solution” for managers who are
struggling to meet deadlines, not
focusing on the important despite
hours spent at the desk and are
under-resourced and having to do
“more with less”. That is the nature
of the beast for most of us.
Many moons ago, you may have
suggested “sending them on a
time management course”. So off
they went. They dutifully
completed their “time log”, they
learned about “important” and
“urgent” and how to prioritise, they
learned about to-do lists and
action plans. And returned to the
office with their new-found
knowledge and an eye-wateringly
expensive leather Filofax (yes, I
am showing my age) [. . .] and yet
[. . .]. not much changed.
Productivity did not improve
I have nothing against time
management courses per se. But,
most of the productivity problems I
have experienced personally and in
my 15 years working as a
leadership and team coach have
nothing to do with “time
management” and everything to do
with one or all of these four things:
1. lack of time to think;
2. self-limiting beliefs;
3. the wrong conversations; and
4. doing what you have always
done.
Of course you might argue that
inefficient processes that are not
joined up and systems that “don’t
talk to each other” also lead to an
unproductive workforce and of
course you would be right. But,
those productivity problems are very
visible and very obvious (although
the solution might be complex and
costly!).
So what is an HRD to do?
The first answer is so easy in
theory – and yet for many of us it
feels counter-intuitive.
And those are given below.
Make “thinking time” a habit
It is counter-intuitive because our
organisations value “getting things
done” and “being busy” at the
How to . . .
DOI 10.1108/SHR-08-2016-0076 VOL. 15 NO. 6 2016, pp. 273-274, © Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1475-4398 STRATEGIC HR REVIEW PAGE273
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