Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

While I sometimes think the term “knowledge worker” is an oxymoron (particularly in the traditional big companies) - we have become largely a nation of people who think (at least in theory) for a living. So, how do we measure productivity (and assign value accordingly)? And, it’s not just a U.S. challenge - workers throughout the Western world and increasingly Asia - are employed largely in service industries, where the classic “time and motion” studies just don’t work.

So, knowledge workers are generating trillions of dollars in revenue - yet few companies are measuring output much less seeking ways to improve it. Based on my experience as both a hired gun and Corporate America worker drone - couple of things come to mind:

1. Look at how people develop, use and retain knowledge. And when I say knowledge, that’s more than raw data - we’ve got to understand that data and be able to translate into meaningful action.

Two sanity checks here: 1. Are you collecting the right data, in the right ways? Or, are you just doing it because it’s always been done that way? 2. Are the people that need to use that data involved in the planning and design of data collection?

You could be wasting a lot of time and money on outdated forms processing and duplication of effort.

2. Don’t confuse activity (or face time) with results. Who cares if the programming group never seems to be around during daylight hours - or if the sales team doesn’t have regular meetings at HQ? If they’re getting the results you need, that’s all that counts.

Two quick sanity checks: 1. Make sure everyone involved knows the strategy, action plans, necessary results - and their role in such. Also, they should be involved from the very first of any planning. The old-fashioned “top down, top secret” strategies are a sure recipe for failure in today’s world. Just too many variables and too many people talking to each other (including your employees with your customers). 2. Ensure consistent communications about expectations and jobs all across the board. That’ll help avoid the de-motivating “it’s not fair - the programmers don’t have to come in at 8!” scenarios.

People think, communicate, and like to work in many different ways - which didn’t really matter much when most jobs consisted of repetitive tasks such as inserting a bolt in a car door the same way for 8 hours - but those differences make all the difference when people thinking is what drives our economy (up or down).