Productivity Secrets from the Top: What CXOs Know About GBS Success
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Even as the business world continues to evolve, GBS organizations face challenges such as inflation, geopolitical risks, and supply chain disruptions. This scenario highlights the immediate need to put in place productivity frameworks that can help them withstand this volatility and achieve the desired growth.
A study undertaken by ProHance and Zinnov shows that a data-driven approach to productivity management is the way to go ahead. 53% of the GBS leaders surveyed rank productivity as their top priority. They recognize the need for improving operational efficiency and fostering innovation if they wish to get a head start.
GBS organizations today understand the value of transforming data into actionable intelligence that can then be used to make meaningful decisions across people, processes, and technology. This approach will demonstrate productivity gains while also building a culture of continuous improvement.
However, access to reliable data continues to hamper this approach, with 53% of leaders citing this challenge as a major barrier to productivity. Furthermore, with productivity dropping by 15% after 8 hours of work, it’s abundantly clear that continuing productivity is a result of working smarter and not just working harder.
Insights From Industry Leaders
While each business has its set of challenges and solutions, the overarching impact and strategic value of productivity is undeniable. We spoke to several industry leaders to gather insights into how they’re driving productivity in their organization.
Establish Customer and Business Context
To achieve organizational goals and truly maximize productivity, leaders and managers must understand that it is crucial for delivery teams to be equal participants in the broader business context. When these empowered teams recognize and understand the ‘why’ behind their work, they are more likely to push for a better performance.
One way of achieving this is by establishing the relationship between project outcomes and specific business objectives, and highlighting the consequences of missed deadlines or suboptimal results. Once delivery teams are able to make the connection between their efforts and the impact it has, productivity can improve.
Well-Defined Governance and Dedicated Teams
It is helpful to set up a clear cross-functional governance process that takes into account all teams, including the leadership. Establishing a workforce management or continuous improvement team puts aside a dedicated team that can look at all operational data as it comes in and rely on the insights derived from it to make more informed decisions.
This approach ensures the data is validated and the insights are examined thoroughly based on real, on-ground feedback. This ensures productivity isn’t a chimera to be chased but rather a distinct goal that can be achieved with the right data helping take the right decisions.
Emphasis on Quality
Meeting customer timelines are crucial for every business. However, this should not come at the cost of lower quality or inaccuracy of final output.
Employees should be trained meticulously and also be provided with regular upskilling and retraining opportunities. By highlighting the importance of accuracy over speed, it is possible to inculcate a culture of quality, paramount in every operation. Leaders and managers can even consider offering rewards and incentives based on quality of work as against speed of work.
This improved and sustained quality can only improve the productivity of the GBS organization.
Balance Business Impact and Employee Well-Being
Business impact should not come at the cost of employee well-being. Understandably, business impact is crucial. However, it is just as critical to treat employees well and take into account their welfare. GBS organizations must aim for a balanced approach, prioritizing people where required.
Frequent and regular monitoring as well as taking feedback from employees can help the business achieve success on both parameters. Happy and motivated employees are more invested in their performance and this can only have a direct impact on the overall productivity of the organization.
Leadership Involvement
While productivity rests mainly on the performance of workers, it is important to get leadership buy-in and engagement for a productivity initiative to be truly successful.
Measuring the impact on a regular basis can provide data to understand the impact of the initiatives. The GBS organization can review this data by involving the VP, EVP, heads of departments and even the CEO, if required, to take real-time decisions that can enhance the outcomes.
When top management is involved, it creates a ripple effect in all levels of the organization, driving accountability, ownership and greater productivity.
Also Read: How Employee Engagement Boosts Efficiency and Productivity
The Future of GBS Success: Leveraging Data for Strategic Advantage
As GBS organizations evolve from being cost-centers to value-drivers, they need to relook at productivity beyond a measure of efficiency, but rather as a strategic imperative. Productivity management must now play the dual role of balancing cost efficiencies while focusing on value creation and innovation.
The future is clear. GBS organizations need to put productivity center stage while taking into account advanced analytics, targeted interventions, and strategic change management. This will give them the required tools to navigate the evolving business landscape and achieve their growth goals.
At ProHance, we have the expertise to walk you through the prevalent work patterns in your organization and help you understand how they impact efficiency and productivity.
