By Jim Kahrs, President, Prosperity Plus Management Consulting

Production is what spells the difference between success and failure in any business, no matter how large or small. The key to increasing production throughout your business is to measure it via production statistics and then work to improve those statistics. The use of statistics is a vital tool of good management. They are completely objective, and they provide a fair assessment of an employee’s actual performance.

Production statistics are a valuable resource to help ensure productivity from your staff. The steps below will outline an action plan to measure and improve employee productivity using this type of data:

1. Determine Measurements of Production That Lead to Success – For this step, you need to determine how success is measured. The key here is to make sure that an increase or decrease in production in each area can be linked to the performance of the individual.

2. Convert Production Measures to Statistics – Take the actions that lead to success and convert them into measurements that can be counted and reported. The key is to have a measurement that is easily counted.

3. Capture and Report the Statistics Weekly – A software system like e-Automate will help you count and report these statistics, providing you with system-generated reports that offer quantifiable data.

4. Graph the Statistics Weekly – Graph the numbers using a simple line graph, showing the relationship of this week’s performance to that of previous weeks. Graphing the statistics makes it very easy to see if production is up or down. The graphs should be posted at the employee’s work area and reviewed weekly with their supervisor.

5. Review the Statistics Weekly – Review the statistics weekly with each employee, addressing things that need to be done to increase production for the coming week. By doing this weekly, you have 52 opportunities each year to increase production.

Once you implement a management by statistics program, tracking the productivity of your employees becomes much easier. Imagine having a full year of production statistics to go over during annual reviews. You can create a bonus structure that provides the opportunity for increased income while focusing on increasing production. The key is to get the employee to make the connection between production and income potential.

 

Jim Kahrs is the Founder and President of Prosperity Plus Management Consulting, Inc. The consultancy works with companies in the office systems industry building revenue and profitability and improving organization structure using the Hubbard® Management System. Prosperity Plus also assists with mergers and acquisitions and offers a full range of support. (631) 382-7762 or [email protected]