From the course: Management Tips

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Rethinking productivity

Rethinking productivity

From the course: Management Tips

Rethinking productivity

It's time for a change in how professionals view productivity. Too often, leaders think simplistically, and narrowly, about some unit of work being done over some period of time. That's not wrong, per se, but it can be unproductive. In fact, some think that measuring productivity is simply impossible. The truth is, no matter which metric you pick, it can be abused, and it often is. Whether you're looking at hours worked, units produced, or calls taken, data isn't always reliable. Productivity metrics are useful, but we over rely on them, which really is a byproduct of our history of manufacturing. It was the great Frederick Taylor who helped revolutionize industry by pushing the idea of division of labor to its logical extreme. In many ways, this effort to break down tasks into increasingly smaller tasks de-skilled workers, and it certainly didn't help build stronger human relations. It did, however, make measuring productivity very easy. Today when we look at knowledge workers, or…

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