John Nisbet Facilitates Workshop For Local Businesses

Accomplishing the Work of the Organization, Productively

The following imagined conversation was prompted by the discussions at a series of workshops on this topic sponsored by SFABA in May.

Q: What does “productively” mean”?  Give me some useful ways to think about it.
A: A productive organization is one that is using appropriate resources in the right amounts – people, machines, supplies, time - to fulfill the organization’s mission.  The “mission” is the ultimate focus for work.  So it helps considerably if the mission is well understood throughout the organization.

Q. But just because everyone knows what the mission is doesn’t mean that the work automatically arranges itself the best way, does it?
A: No, definitely not.  Even with the best of intentions, work that is set up without considering the details of how the work should be done or who may be affected by it can turn out to be unproductive.  And unproductive can be very frustrating.

Q: I think I need an example.
A: Recently I saw an invoice sent from a vendor to one of its customers.  The layout of the invoice, and some of the wording, was confusing.  But the most frustrating thing was that there was no phone number that a customer could use to contact the vendor in case of questions.  That meant frustrated customers, which was surely not what was intended.

Q: That’s not quite what I expected . . .
A: Perhaps not, but it points out a couple of things.  No work is done in a vacuum; the output from one work unit (accounts receivable) affects other groups (in this case the customer – not all work is purely internal).  If the customer’s perspective had been included when the invoice was designed communication with the customer would have been significantly improved.  So, a core concept in productivity is to understand who is affected by your work.

Q: About that other example . . . . ?
A: Sorry, no more time, we will have to continue the discussion another time.

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John Nisbet is the President of Kilcreggan Systems & Software, a consulting firm based in Shelburne, MA.  Kilcreggan advises clients in methods and techniques to achieve organizational objectives: definitions of tasks, procedures, roles and responsibilities; and optimal use of software to facilitate work and to provide information for measuring success. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it   (617) 694-8125