Productivity Eliminate Politics and Reward the Best People Management guru Peter Drucker once said, “What gets measured, gets done.” A complex challenge facing organizations is measuring their staff’s productivity. Every organization is interested in measuring the productivity of their staff and achieving continuous improvement in their performance. However, Team Members (TMs) often think their remuneration is not directly correlated to their productivity. Instead, it is determined by how well they play the game and understand the politics of their organization. The Optimize product solves this problem. Paul Meyer said, “Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.” Depending on which survey you look at, the average staff member works between 24-32 hours out of a forty-hour workweek. That’s 60-80% on average and a clear sign that there is a need for improved productivity. No Political-Personal Bias Many Team Members feel it is not how productive they are but instead how they are politically connected. They think that having a “good” relationship with their supervisor is more significant in determining their remuneration than accomplishing important tasks promptly. The Optimize product eliminates the political-personal bias by putting the focus on productivity and continuously calculates the productivity of each staff member as they complete tasks for each supported labor category. These statistics provide management unbiased numerical ratings of each staff member’s performance. The staff member’s knowing that their performance is directly related to their compensation, are motivated to improve their performance. Productivity Determines Compensation The Optimize product determines for each labor category a staff member supports how productive they were. Management knows precisely what the average salary is for each labor category when they use the Optimize product. The Optimize product provides for each staff member their cost-effectiveness. If everyone recognizes that executive management is cognizant of their productivity, they will work harder because they realize that their productivity is a significant factor in determining their future compensation. Quality Considerations When we first implemented the predecessor version of the Optimize product, we didn’t consider the quality of the results. If a Team Member feels the results of their tasks were superior to the expectations, they can inform their manager for the task, be it a Process Manager, a Product Manager, or a Project Manager. If they can convince their manager of the superior results of their task (usually those associated with a deliverable), then the Manager can talk with the Portfolio Manager, be it a Process Portfolio Manager, a Product Portfolio Manager, or a Project Portfolio Manager, who can then adjust the results of that task to reflect the result’s quality.