Mental Inputs

• There are two major mental inputs from any team which impact productivity levels:

  • Employee motivation

  • Corporate knowledge

1. Motivation:

• 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’

2. Corporate Knowledge:

• There’s even less known about the cause & effect relationship between corporate knowledge levels and productivity results

• However, if you know little, you’ll likely achieve little