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