Audience: employees, civic associates
Message: We need to do more at a lower cost with fewer people.
Tone: motivational, informal
Timing: 18-20 minutes
Asking me to talk about productivity is like asking third-world countries to apply for a loan; persuasion just isn’t part of the picture. I preach the subject with the fervor of a tent revivalist. It’s practicing the message, however, that’s the hard part. But practice it, we must.
I want to begin by raising a few questions, and then outlining a few answers we’ve stumbled onto. Perhaps—and we’re really hoping on this one—you can add to our answer list.
First the questions: What’s happened to our capitalistic system here in the U.S.? It’s still suffering from a bad hangover after years of celebrating technological superiority. Granted, our businesses have not ordered their burial plots, but neither are they well enough to do calisthenics.
What has changed—that we Americans now have to concern ourselves with productivity and quality?
I remember Saturday afternoon shopping sprees in the local variety stores as a child. I’d sidle up to my mother and show her my selection for the dollar she’d given me for being “good.” She’d look carefully at what I’d picked out…. And if she turned the label over and saw “Made in Japan,” the verdict was always, “Put it back. That’s no good. It’ll tear up before we get home with it.” Today, the reaction of mothers is just the opposite. “Made in the USA” has meant shoddy while the Japanese have surpassed us in everything from radios to microchips.
Why did it all happen?
For one thing, bureaucracy buried flexibility. Policies and procedures took precedence over ideas. Assumptions about our technological superiority smothered creativity and technological advancement. In other words, smugness settled in for smartness.
Then there was the energy crisis…. Then the recession…. Then inflation…. Then scandal in high places…. Then our drug war…. Then our literacy problem…. While we were and are fighting these fires, the Japanese have been outworking us. Their products have cut into our profit in most of our basic industries.
But the tide has been turning.
We’re a competitive group as Americans. You’ve heard it said that people always root for the underdog. Well, we ourselves have become the underdog in the economic competition around the world. And American workers have started rooting for themselves. To put it succinctly: We were up against the ropes, but we didn’t go down for the count. In fact, we’re responding well to the challenges.
Now here’s where you come in.
All of us individually have the power to produce. You, as well as I, know that there’s a difference between working every day and simply having a perfect attendance record. We want to find those people who are giving it their all—day after day after day. We want to reward them and promote them. We want each of you to get excited about carving out a future here—not just whittling away at the time.
You are our economic advantage in winning this competition. You have much to contribute in making this a better, safer country. The question is: How badly do you want to win? How much do you want to find a way to do your job better? Can you find a way to do it cheaper? Can you come up with an idea that can do it both better and cheaper?
Our pledge to you is to give you an environment that will make you comfortable in reaching your highest potential. We want to do everything possible to eliminate any obstacles to team effort and spirit. We want you to understand that the only long-term security for any of us in American business is innovation and cost-effectiveness.
We want to attract, retain, and reward people who are sold out to excellence in every way. And, in turn, we’ll provide you with security and any retraining you need to climb to your highest potential. We guarantee you that if you work yourself out of a job, we’ll find you another, better place. One more in line with your creative talents. In other words, we not only want your good ideas,… we expect them.
You are our biggest asset. Although we can’t go to the bank and borrow against you, you will show up on our balance sheet. In the years ahead, you’ll be the difference between profit and loss. And we want to ensure your personal ownership in the success you foster.
So, together, how do we get the job done?
Well, productivity simply means working smarter, not harder. It means completing a task with fewer ergs of energy…. Or less raw material…. Or less machine time…. Or less paperwork…. Or fewer worker hours…. In other words, we need you, our extraordinary people, to find ways to make extraordinary tasks just ordinary after all. I’m finding a lot of people around here capable of doing just that.
Work smarter, not harder. We’re starting to do that again in America. As Ann Landers would say, “We woke up and smelled the coffee.” We’re once again inventing new products and new processes that will continue to raise our whole standard of living.
Specifically, here’s what we’re asking you to do to work smarter, not harder.
#1: We want you to use our technology to its fullest. What products and processes can we improve with our know-how?
#2: We want to reduce the number of people it takes to do a job. That’s a sensitive issue, of course, and our plan is to cut our workforce through attrition rather than layoffs. But believe me, you don’t have to put off thinking until someone voluntarily leaves or retires. If you work yourself out of a job, there’ll be a better one waiting for you, one that can fully use your talents and expertise.
#3: We want you to help us redesign our products to make them easier and faster to ship out the door. And even more importantly, to make them exactly what the customers want to buy at a price they want to pay.
#4: We want you to become motivated to give it all you’ve got—to do more work in less time so that you receive the personal benefit of a higher paycheck based on higher profits.
Let’s translate these into a more specific to-do list:
We have to talk to each other smarter. We need input from all of you—from those of you who service our elevators to those who prepare our annual stockholders report. From those of you who design our (product) to those of you who invoice our (product). We want our vendors to talk to our buyers. We want our engineers to talk to our accountants. We want our sales reps to talk to our service technicians. We want you to share your goals and your obstacles to those goals. It’s only with widespread collaboration that we can spark each other’s creativity.
We have to measure smarter. Do we know where the waste is? Do we know where to cut? Admiral Joseph Metcalf had this to say upon discovering that some of our largest Navy frigates carried as much as 20 tons of paper and file cabinets. “I find it mind-boggling,” he said. “We don’t shoot paper at the enemy.”
Neither do we here at (corporation) shoot paper at our competitors. But we have enough of it to do some serious damage—to ourselves. We’ve got to measure what we’re doing now against where we’re going, so we’ll know when we arrive.
For years, management teams have asked ourselves and our workers how much we could save if we bought this or that software. If we accessed this or that database. If we hired this or that consultant. And you know what? We couldn’t find out. The savings didn’t show up on any radar screen, computer printout, or bank statement. We wanted a PC on everyone’s desk, but we didn’t know how to pinpoint its impact on the bottom line. And those who hold the purse strings—ultimately our stockholders—keep nagging us with their questions.
Consequently, we have to learn to measure. We need to count how many unnecessary files we keep on employees and projects. We need to count how many invoices we have to prepare before we get the numbers right. We need to know how many times the average monthly project reports have to be rewritten before they’re clear. We have to measure everything we do so we know where the waste is.
But the real improvements will come when we can do something about the waste. When we can cut invoice handling to once rather than twice. When we can write the research report clearly the first time without having to ask an editor to interpret and rewrite for us. In other words, we have to understand that being busy can no longer pass for being productive.
Another to-do on our list, besides talk to each other smarter and measure smarter: We need to market smarter. We need to go to our customers and show them the value they’re getting for their dollars. We need to tell them what it costs us to build thus-and-so, and then ask them what feature they don’t think is worth the cost. We need to ask them what they want first—then figure out a way to make it better and faster than the competition. We have to do that to hold the line on prices and make our customers profitable in their own businesses. In our narrowing economic circle, we’re going to have to hold hands.
Another item on our to-do list: We need to educate ourselves smarter. Once upon a time, we Americans had all the great ideas in the world. Then the rest of the world followed our lead and began to think. They’ve come up with some good ideas while some of us have taken a long recess. Individually, we have to realize that education never stops. Formally, we are putting our budget where our mouth is and increasing the number of training opportunities open to you through the company.
But individually you can build your own productivity power base by reading magazines, journals, and books. Then those research efforts and those training classes have to be translated to practical processes and products the customers want and need.
Another to-do: We have to dream smarter. You’ve heard it said that some people entertain ideas while others put them to work. We want you to be in the last category. People are finding new ways to do their jobs every day. We have to continue to look for new ways to do things rather than to settle for “this is the way it’s always been done.” The best way has to win over the old way.
We have to focus smarter. We have to work with direction and good aim. Our left hand has to know what our right hand is doing. We have to eliminate duplication of effort and research. We have to focus on one task at a time. Step by step, task by task, day by day, and month by month, the little completed tasks turn into big completed projects. The quickest way to do any task is to do only that task. Productivity is concentration and focus.
We’re building quality smarter. Doing it right the first time means doing it faster over the long stretch. If you cut out all the costs of poor quality—the cost to do something over,… the scrap and waste,… the service cost for things that don’t work right,… the supplier rejects,… the auditors and the inspectors—then you simply have to be increasing productivity.
We have to lead smarter. People of our generation are better educated and informed. They think creatively for themselves. They ask “Why” when told what to do. They want more than a paycheck from our payroll; they want a sense of satisfaction from contribution. So we have to stimulate ourselves to think productively.
We want to give you the freedom to use your intelligence and internal motivation to our advantage in thinking of better, faster, cheaper ways to do things that are assigned. Your smarter thinking means our better production. Your skill, ingenuity, and use of the newest technology will determine how well we hold down costs and raise our quality.
To repeat: We have to talk to each other smarter. To measure smarter. To market smarter. To educate ourselves smarter. To dream smarter. To focus smarter. To build quality smarter. To lead smarter.
As with many new management ideas circling the globe, after all is said and done,… much is said and little is done. But this productivity issue I’ve been discussing is more than a new slogan—more than the latest management fad.
We are in earnest. This way of thinking—increased productivity—has to become part of our company culture. It has to be more than a hobby; it has to be our work lifestyle.
To produce more, we have to see further down the road—to long-term quality and savings. Only as we get that big picture will we cope with tomorrow’s challenges and harness its opportunities. Yes, it is hard work out there.
But Americans of the past have never been afraid of hard work. Especially when we know what we want and how to get it. As your management team, we’re determined. We hope you’re ready to climb into the driver’s seat with us and take off for the game. Winners eat free.
