The Productivity Paradigm

The Productivity
Paradigm

The shift to remote work has presented both challenge and opportunity, and business leaders are looking for more permanent strategies to boost employee productivity. But what if, rather than a declaration made by leadership, productivity is actually a byproduct of culture? Simply put, steadfast productivity cannot be demanded. And research is proving that productive workforces have something in common: employees are engaged and connected. According to The McKinsey Global Institute, productivity improves by 20%-25% in organizations where employees are connected¹.

If productivity is a proven byproduct of connectedness and collaboration within the culture, how can organizations work to cultivate this kind of environment? And what does this look like for businesses supporting highly distributed, remote employees? How do we create a culture that drives productivity and transforms the concept of work from home to a successful operate-from-anywhere business model?

Download and read Chapter 3 of our eBook for more information.

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Start with the right foundation for success.

To help illustrate, let’s use a sports analogy. Basketball players, for instance, are typically required to do a variety of drills and performance enhancing activities that will never be seen on the court. The speed ladder agility drill, for example, would most likely look absurd if all of a sudden you watched your favorite ball player move up and down the court in such a way. But this drill helps players become more agile, quick to respond, and build endurance. It builds a solid foundation for the player, and therefore the team, to excel. And without these key building blocks, it will be difficult for the team to thrive.

The same is true for organizations. Employees need the fundamentals, the basics—the drills, if you will—in order to be effective. By providing the right drills, organizations build a foundation for productivity to flourish.

Collaboration and connectedness are an established part of the fabric of high-performing organizations. So for today’s dispersed organizations, these drills must include stimulating a culture around connectedness.

Streamlined technology is the catalyst for productivity.

Sadly, most remote workers do not currently feel connected or collaborative in their current environment. A recent study looking at the impact of remote work since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic found that roughly 54% of respondents said their primary challenge in working from home was feeling disconnected or alone².

To create a real culture of connectedness that fosters productivity, it’s time to unify that toolset and eliminate app confusion. By bringing the technology together, you’ll set the business up to naturally increase productivity, much like basketball drills become the tightly knit fabric of the team’s skill set. The tools become less of the focus, and instead you are left with a ripple effect of strong communication and engagement flowing throughout your organization. Distance melts away as you naturally feel connected to employees that may be sitting 50, 500, or 3,000 miles away.

A single platform for communications, collaboration, and contact center empowers your employees to operate more independently and more productively. Unifying these tools also provides greater organizational transparency simplifies the management, monitoring, and tracking of a dispersed workforce to understand the dynamics that contribute to productivity.

It’s easy to look to technology as a panacea for productivity woes, but rapid uptake of fragmented communications tools in recent months hasn’t led to sustainable improvement. There’s a reason many of us continue to feel like we’re working on remote islands, despite access to several communications apps across our devices.

The problem is not that those communications tools don’t work, it’s that they don’t work together. When faced with an overflowing home screen of apps, employees are bound to get overwhelmed, becoming more frustrated and disconnected. The truth is businesses can’t just add more disjointed communications and collaboration tools and expect productivity to increase.

Stay connected and boost engagement.

We’ve established that a single platform approach is crucial to building a foundation for connectedness and productivity. Let’s take a closer look at the benefits organizations can realize:

Instant 1:1 and group messaging are powerful tools to bring people together. We’ve clearly seen the limit of email, with 96% of workers saying unnecessary emails waste their time³.

Live video meetings go a long way to recover some value lost when face-to-face meetings aren’t possible, providing connection through body language, eye contact, and other non-verbal cues. A unified communications suite should make video meetings an integral part of its interface and functionality.

Quality management (QM) can have a profound impact on agent empowerment and engagement. Agents are typically highly monitored, which can create a feeling of micromanagement and negatively impact productivity. QM programs can help the agent to feel a greater sense of connection to the end goal. As you share feedback, coaching, and offer new transparency to your agents, this builds trust and connectedness in ways that contribute to productivity.

Break down communications silos between business users and contact center agents to accelerate issue resolution and improve experience. Imagine your contact center agents are presented with a question they are unable to answer, but know for certain a different department or individual could easily help. Provide a unified platform to help bring people together, and you’ll cultivate a culture of rapid and open collaboration.

For agile, data-driven organizations, the real power of a unified communications platform lies in the ability to manage, track, and gain deep insights across the business and contact center. With easy access to analytics, dashboards, and admin tools from anywhere in the world, you can make better decisions, faster.

1. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/technology-media-and-telecommunications/our-insights/the-social-economy
2. https://www.hrreporter.com/focus-areas/culture-and-engagement/remote-work-popular-but-isolation-a-challenge-survey/330766
3. https://dynamicsignal.com/2017/04/21/employee-productivity-statistics-every-stat-need-know/

Technology is no cure-all, but streamlining the technology that brings your employees together will foster a culture of connection and collaboration and supercharge productivity. Think about productivity with a technology-led approach to set your organization up for collaborative success.

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