- There are two major mental inputs from any team – Employee motivation and corporate knowledge
Motivation’s impact on productivity
- There’s no precise formula defining the relationship between productivity levels and the significant factors which determine them
- Nevertheless, for any given system, the broad relationship is a mix of two factors:
Productivity = Ability x Motivation
- Ability is what a team can do:
- It depends on the physical and/ or mental strengths of team members
- It can be improved by careful selection and good training of each team member, and cross-pollination of ideas and experience between them
- Motivation is what a team will do:
- It depends on many factors concerning job design and working environment
- It’s also contagious – team members pass it on to others, and new members soon pick up ‘the vibes’ – this applies to both high and low motivation levels
- Empirical evidence suggests their combined effect on productivity can be dramatic viz:
- More availability of staff – up to 50% less ‘sickies’
- More staff efficiency – up to 60% more output from the same workers
- ‘Rules of thumb’ are:
- If both motivation and ability levels are high, productivity levels can be expected to be high also – and it will be the system that needs improving if levels are to be raised further
- If either motivation or ability levels are low, productivity levels will also be low, whatever system is in place
- Hence, to attain high productivity levels, your team’s motivation and ability levels must both be ‘high’
Corporate Knowledge:
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There’s even less known about the cause/ effect relationship between corporate knowledge levels and productivity results
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However, if you know little, you’ll likely achieve little
