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Sustainability Coaching: How to Realize Long Term Productivity Gains in Business

Guest post by: Bill and Katharine White

Article Overview: Business owners and company executives want an optimized company, which means that productivity is at its peak. To achieve these, failure proofing by addressing these three factors is key. Productivity gains are sustained through simple but effective project planning, incorporating benchmark change management strategies and being passionate about the productivity goal and following through.

Sustainability Coaching: How to Realize Long Term Productivity Gains in Business



Most changes that create productivity gains in business fail to be sustained primarily due to three factors:

1) Project management planning deficits

2) Poorly executed change management tactics

3) Half hearted executive/owner sponsorship and follow through

Business owners and company executives want an optimized company, which means that productivity is at its peak. To achieve these, failure proofing by addressing these three factors is key. Productivity gains are sustained through simple but effective project planning, incorporating benchmark change management strategies and being passionate about the productivity goal and following through.

Project Management Planning

For results to be achieved through people (strategy execution) a simple project plan that include the creation of a Human Capital Map will highlight the points required in the plan. For productivity to be achieved, the right people need to be in the right jobs, be oriented, trained, and performance coached on all the inputs to productivity. More than that, they need to be engaged. High engagement leads to a sustained aggregate value proposition of high productivity, best quality and safety, customer loyalty and meeting financial targets.

Change Management Tactics

If productivity gains are "flavor of the month" (the companies' one-off activities usually failing to get long lasting results), already disenfranchised workers will not only miss productivity targets, they will be a barrier to others reaching theirs. Change happens with three ingredients; a clear goal (what is the target we are aiming for?) strong inspiring communication out front from the owner/executive about why its important (i.e., " to be a leader in our industry and be around for a long time, providing jobs to our employees, great products for our customers, and better lives for those in our communities") and involvement of employees in the process ( they will resist change less if they are co-creating the change process; (i.e. Knowing the "drivers" and "brakers" of new productivity targets will be learned through asking employees. If asked, employees will not only answer, they are a sustained part of the solution)

Half Hearted Executive Follow Through

Owners/executive managers are clearly in favor of improved productivity; however they may communicate less than "full heartedly" about their belief that this workforce can surmount the challenges of today to achieve the productivity targets of tomorrow. Moving from "half hearted" (only partially committing in words and actions) to being "full hearted": (being fully committed in words and actions) will move status quo productivity to breakthrough, and sustain it for the long term.

Sustainability Coaching addresses each of these factors.

Project Planning

Through identifying the executive champion for the productivity goal, the coach partners with the champion to assure that all elements required for sustained change are in the project plan. The elements of the plan are the agenda for sustainability coaching sessions.

Change Management Tactics

Assuring that the three elements of change management are addressed, the sustainability coach helps the executive champion set the productivity target, engage employees in the process, and communicate over time. Since change occurs more by spiral than by straight line, the sustainability coach helps to address the inevitable ups and downs of change over time always assuring forward momentum.

Half Heartedness

Owners and executives need a sounding board to move from a place of potential frustration, to one of empowerment. Sustainability coaching helps preserve passion behind the change, leading to communicating with a full heart on the possibilities that this workforce can achieve.

An optimized company means a sustainable culture that addresses these factors. Sustainable coaching is a channel to optimization.

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Article Tags: business owners, change management strategies, company executives, productivity gains, project planning, sustainability



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