Unleashing Human Productivity

Managing Your Scarcest Resources Business leaders know that the key to competitive success is smart management of scarce resources. That's why companies allocate their financial capital so carefully. But capital today is cheap and abundant, no longer a source of advantage. The truly scarce resources now are the time, the talent, and the energy of the people in your organization--resources that are too often squandered. There's plenty of advice about how to manage them, but most of it focuses on individual actions. What's really needed are organizational solutions that can unleash a company's full productive power and enable it to outpace competitors. Building off of the popular Harvard Business Review article "Your Scarcest Resource," Michael Mankins and Eric Garton, Bain & Company experts in organizational design and effectiveness, present new research into how you can liberate people's time, talent, and energy and unleash your organization's productive power. They identify the specific causes of organizational drag--the collection of institutional factors that slow things down, decrease output, and drain people's energy--and then offer a pragmatic framework for how managers can overcome it. With practical advice for using the framework and in-depth examples of how the best companies manage their people's time, talent, and energy with as much discipline as they do their financial capital, this book shows managers how to create a virtuous circle of high performance.

Organizations of all types have been plagued by low productivity and poor engagement of workers. At a time when international competition is strong, and hiring and retaining workers is a challenge, companies need to invest in creating a positive culture if they are to remain economically viable. In "Unleashing Human Energy Through Culture Change" authors Donald Rust and Alan Weinstein recount the story of how General Motors' largest engine plant moved from being on the brink of being shut down, to becoming the top-producing engine plant within the GM organization. Decades later, the plant remains one of the company's most productive facilities. Don Rust's values-fostered growing up on an Upper-Midwest farm-led him to challenge the way workers were treated at the company's Tonawanda, New York, engine plant. As plant manager, he became the change agent who energized both management and workers to partner, leading to positive and profitable culture changes-no small feat given the animosity that existed between managers and union workers. Using Rust's experiences as a benchmark, the authors identify the reasons for poor performance at any organization, not just those in the manufacturing sector: - industrial warfare (employee/management conflict) - industrial depression (employee disengagement) - bully management - overemphasis on short term profits - lack of job security - dull and uninspiring work and working conditions "Unleashing Energy Through Culture Change" is a practical guide to culture change based on a set of three core values: - faith that workers want to be productive - trust between workers and management - respect for all employees The book shows readers how they can bring real, transformational change to their own organizations. "Alan and Don have cut though theory and conjecture to communicate a real-world guide for executives to address the challenges of changing a culture head on. This is a must read for leaders who find themselves handicapped by unproductive culture" -Sam Reese, Chief Executive Officer, Vistage International "Your culture activates your people; your people drive your success. Alan and Don use a real-world manufacturing environment to teach us how to develop and use a positive employee-focused workplace culture to unleash employees' energy, activate their engagement, and amplify their performance. They demonstrate how caring, connection, and communication can change even the toughest workplaces into high-performing successes. This is practical wisdom that will benefit every organization and should be the focus of business leaders everywhere." -Jay Forte, MBA, CPC, ELI-MP, Executive Coach, Author, Consultant and President of The Forte Factor "While the story Rust and Weinstein share is about the auto industry and GM in particular, it's a far more universal story than that. It's a story that shows the very real impact-on people, on productivity, and on profits-of creating a positive workplace culture. It's a story that more leaders need to know." -David Friedman, CEO of High Performing Culture, and author of "Fundamentally Different" and "Culture by Design

Follow this path shows you how the traditional ways to engage people no longer apply in today's world. Instead, it offers a system it calls The Gallup Path, based on the proven, revolutionary strategies of the most successful businesses. You'll learn the prerequisites of an effective workplace, forge unbreakable bonds between employees and customers with the book's 34 Routes to Superior Performance, know the three crucial links that drive productivity and growth, discover the best employee and customer motivators, and much more.

With the emergence of a new, powerful breed of organization--the knowledge organization--comes a bold challenge to the management of people. Employees with special cutting-edge knowledge and the ability to transform it into marketable goods and services cannot be managed in the old way. Only new ways and updated and adapted ways can work. Amar provides an in-depth understanding of who these knowledge workers are, and how to select, adapt, and develop new concepts, principles, strategies, and techniques to manage them effectively. With practical, ready-to-use assessment tools and instruments to redesign obsolescent management practices, this is an essential resource.

When their five-year-old son fought for his life, business leaders Erica and Mike Schultz learned a new way to live, work, and succeed—discovering how to achieve extreme productivity with heart and purpose. Ari Schultz was an extraordinary baby, beginning life in a pitched battle against heart disease. The same year, his parents launched their business, and they had to keep it going strong, even while living full-time at the hospital for months on end. For the next five years, Erica and Mike Schultz learned how to balance the demands of their jobs, commuting to the hospital, and spending time with their growing family—along the way, noting the tricks and techniques that allowed them to get work done, even while living in the cardiac ICU and later through heartbreaking loss. After reflection and recovery, Mike and Erica codified their method of coping and working, and set out to study the work habits of extremely productive people. They discovered what extremely productive people do differently than everyone else, and went on to create The Productivity Code—a new approach to productivity that has helped tens of thousands of people manage their time for greatest effectiveness, fulfillment, and happiness. Now, Erica and Mike reveal the 9 Habits of Extreme Productivity along with easy-to-apply techniques, including: • How to stay focused—and positive—even in difficult times • Clearly defining your motivations through written goals and four-three-four planning • Helpful hacks to stop procrastinating • How to disrupt unproductive thought cycles and break bad habits for good • Changing your mindset to prioritize time doing things you love • Setting boundaries and saying no to tasks that don't serve you • Tricks to become impossible to distract • Working in powerful planned "sprints" to get in the zone • Finding ways to refuel your mental and physical energy • Resetting and correcting when you've gone off course Interweaving their son's poignant story with effective productivity and happiness strategies, Not Today shows how anyone can better manage their time—while living a more energetic and meaningful life.

When it comes to getting ahead in business, The Gallup Organization has led the way with two landmark books: the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers First, Break All the Rules and Now, Discover Your Strengths. In its latest guide the world's hottest management consulting firm reveals your company's most valuable asset-and, with groundbreaking new findings and methods, shows you how developing that asset can lead to a quantum leap in cost efficiencies and profits. What do the world's greatest organizations have in common? They know that their most valuable resource is human-their employees and customers. And the best companies understand two important facts: people are emotional first and rational second, and because of that, employees and customers must be emotionally engaged in order for the organization to reach its full potential. Gallup research not only bears that out, but has uncovered the secrets of creating and managing an "emotional economy" that will provide boom possibilities for your company. Follow this Path shows you how the traditional ways to engage people no longer apply in today's world. Instead, it offers a system it calls The Gallup Path, based on the proven, revolutionary strategies of the most successful businesses. You'll learn the prerequisites of an effective workplace, forge unbreakable bonds between employees and customers with the book's 34 Routes to Superior Performance, know the three crucial links that drive productivity and growth, discover the best employee and customer motivators, and much more. Ignore the emotional economy-and miss out on financial performance. Helping you build relationships one customer and one employee at a time, this important book offers a unique new path for your organization to follow. All you have to do is value and develop human relationships all around you to transform your business-starting today.

An engaging guide on how to bring clarity on both an individual and organizational level and improve workplace efficiency. Organizations are stressed. Innovation and global competition have become the source of relentless pressure and customers have never had higher expectations. Corporate efforts to improve everyday productivity and boost profits are producing diminishing returns. Yet a new frontier of enormous opportunity to improve results is hidden in plain sight. According to a Fortune 500 study, as much as 80% of working time is lost to tiresome meetings, unclear expectations, difficult decisions, and other wasteful delays. Overcoming the lack of clarity behind this waste - on both an individual and organizational basis - would reap huge rewards. In The Power of Clarity, Ann Latham exposes the unrecognized confusion and explains how to eliminate it. This fascinating guide to workplace productivity and effectiveness draws upon extensive research and case studies to demonstrate how you can get better results in far less time while also increasing confidence and commitment.