How do you measure productivity? What is productivity? Productivity is often referred to as a measurement of efficiency of a person, group, or machine in converting inputs into useful outputs. So if productivity itself is a measurement – how do you measure a measurement? Whose responsibility is productivity anyhow? Does your head hurt right now? Mine does. And it gets worse! Our culture has an obsession with productivity—and it’s making us less productive. It is essential to recognize that the way you measure productivity will have an inseparable impact on your process. I know it seems backwards, but stick with me here.
Time Management Does Not Equal Productivity
Let’s clarify something before we really get into it. Productivity and time management are two terms that often go hand in hand. Time management is often looked at as the perfect solution to any productivity problems. Unfortunately – that’s a misconception. And in fact, our society’s obsession with time management could be part of the problem.
Productivity expert and organizational psychologist Adam Grant calls out a cruel reality: our time on this earth is finite, and being hyperaware of how we spend that time (as time management encourages us to do) does not actually make us spend it more wisely. In fact – it uses time that we could have spent in other ways. Other individuals who have published research on the futility of time management also note that time management gives an illusion of control rather than true control. They also acknowledge that multi-tasking is a myth, and instead, we’re participating in something called task-switching, which makes all of our focus less effective. There are two additional points that I’d like to call attention to, especially as we enter 2025 learning that HR and L&D professionals are more burnt out than ever. The first is that an employee being busy does not mean that an employee is being productive and the second is that an overemphasis on time management neglects mental health and is not a holistic approach to wellbeing.
Instead, Grant recognizes and recommends an alternate method: attention management. Attention management is a framework that says that distractions are inevitable, however, the timing of the distractions can be used for good or for evil. Science has proven that our brain needs “distractions” – better referred to as just a break! Dr. Gloria Mark, psychologist and professor of Informatics, wrote that “We can’t expect to lift weights nonstop all day, and we can’t expect to use sustained focus and attention for extended periods of time, either.” It is simply not biologically possible for us to be “on” all of the time. By leaning into these moments of distraction (with discipline!) we can reset our brains, give them a break, and return to our task at hand with refreshment.
Attention management prioritizes intrinsic motivation by encouraging individuals to prioritize the people and the projects that are important to you and your organization. Even in tasks and projects that are not inherently important to us, there is an element of importance.
For example, I may find it time-consuming and strenuous to reformat blog posts while uploading them to our website publisher. However, I know that the proper format of these posts make them more readable by SEO bots, which increases the likelihood that they be shown to more people, which increases the number of people in need of our solution who may become aware of us, which increases our number of demos, which increases our number of sales, which makes our organization more successful, which increases the likelihood that I can continue to have a long and healthy career with this organization. The idea of completing this task does not hold my attention. However, I know that my coworker Carlos, largely responsible for SEO optimization and tracking SEO results, counts on me to accurately format my posts. Supporting Carlos and the rest of the optimization team in these efforts does hold my attention – and it’s intrinsically motivating. By prioritizing attention management and intrinsic motivation as a method of improving productivity, not only am I more productive than I would have been through traditional time management methods, I am also a more engaged employee.
My organization does prioritize output over hours, and I am fortunate to not have a mouse-tracker or other company surveillance tool on my device. We do rely on attention management over time management, and I can report individually that I am a happier, healthier, more engaged employee as a result. However, there are organizational benefits to prioritizing output over hours as well.
On a broader scale, organizations that participate in employee monitoring can experience eroded trust and damaged relationships between their employees and their supervisors. We know that an employee’s relationship with their supervisor has an overwhelming impact on their choice to stay with their organization. It’s not a broad leap to assume that employee monitoring therefore leads to poor retention, which impacts the business as a whole negatively.
How to Measure Employee Performance Practically Without Micromanaging
So how are you meant to encourage performance and productivity if measuring productivity actually harms it? Understandable question. It may be putting too blunt of a point on it to say that measuring productivity always and inherently harms it. This is because the ways and means with which productivity is measured has a much bigger impact than the measurement itself. So let’s get specific about our goals and achieving results instead of tracking arbitrary metrics like hours worked. Here’s are a few guiding questions to help you identify your new key performance indicators and why these specific KPIs are being used to measure performance:
What are the goals that your team, department, or organization are trying to achieve? Maybe your goal is to increase web traffic. In that case – what are clear expectations or steps that you can take in stride to achieve that goal? Maybe you want to begin by increasing your blog output by 3 blogs a month. How do these steps contribute to the larger goal? Increasing your blog output can increase your digital footprint, bringing more viewers to the site.
This is a tangible method of focusing on output over hours worked. Instead of reporting or monitoring hours worked, team members could share their goals or KPIs for accountability and encouragement. If goals and KPIs are achieved – great! If they are consistently not met, then team members and leadership can take a closer look at understanding why that might be happening and solve the issue at the root.
There are a number of ways to motivate employees without engaging in company surveillance and still encouraging high output. What is important to your team? To your workforce as a whole? Is it benefits, compensation, PTO? Maybe they really do want a pizza party? Recognition? There is no blanket advice for motivation that replaces understanding your own employees specifically. Here are some basic steps to get started when it comes to performance and productivity.
- Check up on your culture.
Do your employees feel psychologically and physically safe at work? Do they feel that they have autonomy in their tasks? Are they engaged with your organization, or are they looking elsewhere for work? Truly anonymous surveys can be a useful tool in evaluating employee sentiments without making them feel spied on.
- Provide opportunities to grow.
Employees are more likely to work harder if they feel that they have a future at their organization. Providing upskilling opportunities is a method you can use to motivate your employees to stay on top of their current tasks and continue their career.
- Ensure that your compensation is competitive.
Compensation, including benefits and PTO, is one of the strongest motivation tools at any organization’s disposal. However, it’s not an easy button for employee engagement.
Finding the right ways to motivate your employees can feel like a balancing act. The benefits to having a well-motivated and engaged workforce are worth it! Time management isn’t the always the solution to productivity issues, perceived or otherwise. Motivation is a much stronger driving factor behind production, and attention management harnesses motivation in a way that time management does not. If you’re looking for more information on how to motivate your team or provide opportunities at scale, check out BizLibrary’s learning and development solution.
