Productivity reflects the number of results

Measuring productivity is usually easy, which is why many focus on it. To do this, calculate the amount of results obtained for two identical time periods. For example, if you read two books in December and four in February, you were more productive in February.

Companies calculate productivity by comparing the results of employees, departments and divisions. If, for example, a company’s office in California earned $60,000 in a month, and the office in Florida earned $50,000, the former is considered more productive.

Evaluating someone or something, you should not rely only on quantitative results. This information is not enough.

Productivity seems to reflect the full picture of work. For example, when a manager asks you to prepare a report by the end of the day, he considers this request reasonable. While it really doesn’t take very long, you may well miss it. After all, you probably have your permanent responsibilities and unforeseen urgent tasks.

Efficiency measures qualityIf productivity focuses on results, then efficiency focuses on the quality of work. Therefore, productivity can be thought of as the proceeds from the sale, and efficiency as the amount that will remain in your hands after all the deductions.

Let’s go back to the previous example. The company’s California office generated $60,000 in sales, but $20,000 of that was spent on the workshop and travel expenses. In the Florida office, the seminar was conducted using an inexpensive online platform. As a result, their revenue turned out to be more, and they themselves were more efficient.

Also, efficiency can be measured by the ratio of the quality of work and the time spent. For example, two call center employees need to interview 100 customers per day. The first met the norm, calling 150 people, and the second – calling 300. Although they both achieved the desired result, the first was more effective. He made only 50 extra calls, while the second made 200.

But don’t just focus on efficiency. Don’t raise your bar. Difficulties and mistakes are a natural part of developing and achieving goals.

Obsessed with quality, we begin to doubt ourselves, worry, and procrastinate. If you are also in a leadership position, your team will find it difficult to create something for fear of making a mistake.

Need to find a balanceIt cannot be said that one is more important than the other. Both indicators need to be improved. Yes, it’s nice to achieve goals and keep promises to yourself, but first you need to evaluate the costs.

Keep track of how much time and resources you have invested in reaching your goal. If your productivity is so high that there are a lot of errors in the results of your work, which you then have to spend additional attention on, the law of diminishing returns comes into force. The same thing happens when you only think about quality and fall into perfectionism. Fear of failure prevents you from performing at your best.

3 ways to improve your results

1. Be conscious of time and resourcesTry to keep the current number of results by reducing the resources used. To do this, be mindful of your goals.

For example, you control the marketing budget of a multi-billion dollar company. Perhaps you are getting the desired result only because you flood the market with advertising.

Review all of your marketing campaigns and evaluate each in terms of return on investment. To improve both efficiency and productivity, reallocate costs. Invest the money you currently spend on the 10% of campaigns at the bottom of the payback list into the top 10% of the campaigns on that list.

2. Cut your wasteFind cheaper but reliable alternatives that will help you achieve the same results you are getting now. To do this, it is useful to review your expenses every year. This way you will notice areas where you can save. If you are not sure, look at the prices on the market. This method can be applied to both work and personal finance.

3. Highlight the main goalsPerfectionism makes you think it’s all or nothing. If you don’t want to fall into this trap, you have to accept that things can’t go exactly the way you want them to. Decide what matters most to you and be willing to sacrifice less important goals.