Productivity: Solved by a grenade?

When it comes to improving productivity, no-one approaches the task more systematically than the US Army.

The operation of the M203 Grenade Launcher by the US Marine Corps is broken down into

• 5 Tasks

• 12 Sub-Tasks

• 19 Behavioural Elements

• 27 Steps required to action

The stated US Marine Corps required level of competence for operation of the M203 is to obtain hits on 3 out of 4 targets while a) kneeling b) fighting c) lying prone on the ground. Source: Mayberry (1987:18)

In 1980s, US Marine Corps set about creating a definitive statement of tasks that comprises each and every Marine's job and the required level of competence to which the tasks are to be performed. More specifically they divided a job into mini-jobs which in turn were divided into tasks. The process of performing a task is specified by a set of sub-tasks, as are the performance standards.

Imagine how much effort was needed to define every single job in this way. Then think about the outcome of all that effort - arguably the best military force on the planet....and I am not American.

Productivity in the Working Environment

How does this relate to the working environment? Well it is all about productivity of course, which is what organisations continually struggle with, getting things done as effectively as possible. 

Often pundits tend to blame the human factor when productivity is being discussed. As you read the example of the M203 Grenade Launcher, perhaps it was easy to think of the men and women being shouted at until they get it right. However to me this example talks to the internal process as much as it being about people. 

Typical Problems

Organisational

Throughout my 27-year international finance career, I have found that organisational internal processes are often ill-defined and also inappropriate for the future trading of the enterprise. 

Why is this? Usually it is because during an enterprise's early growth stages, everyone was so busy that they made things happen and didn't have time to stop, look around, think and write it down. Or perhaps they did do this, and then life moved on, another growth spurt happened and the system was not reviewed and updated for the new environment. 

Even worse, the enterprise installed an ERP system !!! This was going to solve all problems, right? WRONG. Well, ERPs are definitely useful when properly installed but in too many cases the management believed the ERP salesperson who told them that they would "review and document the systems and, using our ERP, install best practice". 

In too many cases this was actually was sales-speak shorthand for "we will ask what you do and replicate the historical version where possible in our software and where not possible we will force you to follow our way of doing things".

Personnel

People and their performances are also very much part of the productivity equation. The two main constituent parts to human performance are likely to be 

1. Lack of understanding by workforce

2. Lack of motivation to overcome the effort barrier

The US Marine Corps has perhaps a fairly unique motivation mechanism (back to shouting) but we have already seen the cornerstone of how they chose to tackle the understanding issue - breaking down the work required into manageable tasks and behaviours.

If it's all so simple.....why doesn't it get solved?

Of course, that is all good theory but solving the issue in practice has all sorts of obstacles that organisations need to be aware of and come to terms with, in order that plans can be put in place to overcome them.  

Organisational

Lack of funding / Priority of expenditure: When things are going well, who has the time to stop and work out what is potentially going wrong? Getting in experts to tell you how you are running your business is hardly your priority when there are orders to fulfil and these people always cost so much money that could otherwise be used to grow your business!?

Lack of understanding of the benefits: If organisations knew how important this all was then they would prioritise resources to solve it immediately. So a self-fulfilling prophecy develops and things get more and more out of sync resulting in greater loss of control. The Marine Corps has a longer vision than most but without doubt they certainly understood the benefit of solving the problem. 

Personnel

Earlier I talked of the impact of low levels of understanding. What is important is to consider what prevents this being easily overcome which can be broken down into 

Lack of knowledge / skills: I live and work in Sub-Saharan Africa where this problem crops up all too often. Of course training is one of the critical planks in improving understanding. Whose role it is to build this knowledge within the workforce is an interesting topic for debate. But if employees have left school and organisations want to employ them then something needs to be done.

Objective Assessment: Around the world there are examinations that are officially recognised as measures of basic competence in specific subjects. So often these results are sadly irrelevant to the job task being performed; what school exam trains you to be competent to use the M203? Also different locations hold different standards and another national army might have a lower required level of competence such as hitting 2 out of 4 targets and only tested lying prone on the ground. 

Finding a way of generating reasonable assessment is critical to getting what organisations need.

Personal Motivation: Many people profess to have a desire to learn new things and grow themselves and their careers. However the reality is always distorted and humans often find that their desires can be sometimes hard to put into practice. We need to find better ways of helping humans to maintain their initial surge of enthusiasm and build longer term motivation.

The Opportunity and Possible Solution

Global focus on productivity is today greater than ever. The topic is firmly on the agenda even if the solutions seem nebulous and hard to reach. Leaders and managers in organisations are more and more getting to grips with the problem and hopefully articles like this one will help to break down the issues into more tangible chunks. 

I have already mentioned ERPs which represent automation. Aside from the negative social

consequences of a machine-driven society, organisations can do so much more than just put in an automated version of someone else's ways of doing things. 

My recommendation is to follow the example of the US Marine Corps 

1. Start with a thorough review of business processes that exists (or not) within the organisation as it is today. Break it down into sub-processes, procedures and all the way down to tasks. Avoid the temptation to just document existing ways of working and file away, instead get everyone involved to ask themselves and each other, "Is this optimal way of working, both today and over the coming years?". Look to design processes for the future, that make things progress more smoothly through the organisation and with greater insight and oversight.
   

2. Build task-based work profiles. Ensure that all the tasks in the organisation are covered and none are left out and that all the steps to complete the task are clearly identified. Some will be automated and others will need human input. That's OK. However it is critical to communicate these profiles successfully to the workforce. 
   

3. Build a measurement framework that includes feedback mechanisms and take the time to review the results at all levels; management, department and at the individual level on a regular and objective basis. Only what is measured will tend to be improved.
   

4. Increase the capacity of the workforce by focussing on task-based knowledge and understanding alongside clearly motivational learning methodologies that are adaptive to people's own cognitive skills as well as their learning background.