'It's time to get pragmatic about productivity,' believes Jesse Weinberg, Co-Head: SME Segment at FNB. This is particularly true of owners and managers in the small-, micro- and medium-sized enterprise (SMME) space, who face unique people challenges to those currently being dissected in business schools and by global management consultancies.
While large corporates and multi- nationals are debating the future of work, remote employees and how best to get reluctant workers back into the office, SMMEs are grappling with capacity constraints, a sluggish local economy, supply- chain challenges and demotivated employees.
The last issue is particularly hard to turn around, because people are running on empty. As author and broadcaster Bruce Whitfield says in his new keynote address, How to Thrive at the Edge of Chaos: 'We've gone from a pandemic of disease to a pandemic of uncertainty, and a real sense of fear about the future.'
'Imagine the emotional toll on a person dealing with the loss of a family member due to COVID-19, or having to feed more mouths to cover for those who lost jobs during the pandemic,' he says. 'Difficult emotional issues are resulting in serious challenges from a productivity point of view as employees battle to keep on top of their lives - let alone be highly ambitious and grow professionally.'
Small ship, essential cogs
Weinberg, who merges his SMME expertise with insights gained from an MBA at IE Business School, has a personal interest in understanding the multi-faceted dynamics of business ownership and how this impacts productivity. Gaining insights simply means reaching out, and checking-in with people on the ground, be they clients or employees.
workforce - whether the person is physically absent or emotionally 'checked out'. Either way, the impact on output is very real and tangible, says Weinberg.
How to re-engage employees
Big corporates are approaching the issue of employee wellness and motivation through, as Harvard Business Review and Forbes are reporting, deploying 'soft-skill', human-centric responses like upskilling, on-site fitness classes, counselling and meditation workshops. But many of these interventions are beyond the scope of smaller businesses.
There are, however, simpler ways in which SMMEs can breathe fresh life into stagnant workplaces. Here are just a few:
Being a small business does not exempt a business owner from an open discussion about productivity and the emotional and psychological aspects with their staff, adds Weinberg, although he acknowledges that it is still essential to focus on the business and hard business metrics.
A complex and changing environment also requires that business owners and managers take time to monitor their own levels of stress and overwork by learning to say 'no', making time for fun, family and friends, and having a trusted sounding board.
Ultimately it doesn't help focusing only on the productivity of your team if the captain is floundering, as this could result in a leadership or judgement failure at some point down the line. It's also a risk to the sustainability of the business if your workforce is actually 'breaking', notes Weinberg.
In fact, that's where the importance of pragmatism comes into play. Just like all good assets in a business require preventative maintenance to keep running effectively and efficiently, so too do the people (arguably your most important asset) in your business. Are you allocating enough time and money to ensure the emotional productivity of your people is being adequately maintained?
