Want To Increase Productivity? Start Empowering Your Employees

Manufacturers striving to improve productivity need to focus not only on the bottom line, but also on the people within the organization that ultimately drive success.

An article in Entrepreneur magazine reports that many of the soft approaches companies use to boost employee engagement and morale (such as sponsoring event affiliations, celebrations and leadership development programs) aren't truly effective. 

It's important to remember that as an organization, your employees are your most valuable assets. The more you empower them to make decisions and changes, the more motivated and productive they become.

People want to feel valued and believe that their contributions matter. By giving employees the power to make changes and take risks (within reason), they'll feel more engaged in their work and with the organization.

Of course, this is easier said than done. It takes trust on the part of management to hand over some decision-making responsibilities to employees.

Remedying this comes back to the hiring process. Many companies struggle with identifying the right talent. They often hire people who interview well, but turn out to be the wrong fit for the organization or its culture. The more you're able to hire the right people from the start, the easier it is to trust and empower them.

Yves Morieux, an expert in corporate transformation, tells Entrepreneur that when organizations move away from bureaucracy to a "human-centered environment where people can thrive, contribute, feel genuinely valued and become committed to an organization's mission," real value is created for both the company and the employee.

So, take a step back and look at your organization from a new angle. Do your employees feel like they play a significant role? Survey your team to get their feedback on what improvements they'd like to see and how the organization could run more effectively.

Once you have this feedback, start making changes where necessary. A culture that's centered on improving productivity is one that doesn't maintain the status quo.

 Source: Entrepreneur, March 4, 2014