i4cp's Next Practices Weekly - Solving the Productivity Predicament

The Next Practices Weekly call series has become a well-attended and wide-ranging discussion for HR leaders each Thursday at 11am ET / 8am PT. On this week's call, i4cp Senior Research Analyst Tom Stone hosted two of his colleagues, Kevin Oakes, CEO & Co-Founder, and Mollie Lombardi, Senior Research Analyst, who discussed key findings from i4cp recent research study, The Productivity Predicament. Here are some highlights from the call:

• The i4cp Productivity Predicament study's survey involved 624 responses from 52 countries; 46% outside North America, and 53% from senior executive, C-level, or board member.
• Top performing organizations remain productive, with 49% of high-performance organizations (HPO) saying productivity has increased since March 2022, vs. only 24% of low performers (LPO). Only 7% of HPOs say productivity has decreased since March 22, vs. 32% of LPOs. (HPO/LPO status is self-reported based on revenue, profit, market share, and customer satisfaction over the past five years.)
•  The study found that organizations that listed both empathy and productivity in their top three priorities showed the strongest correlation to trust, goal achievement, and culture health.
• The study found that nearly half (47%) of survey respondents said current work location policies were designed to improve one of the following: collaboration, culture, productivity. But selection of one of these as the primary reason for the current work model was either very weakly or negatively correlated with both overall performance and achievement of goals.
• Key findings from the study were the following (see recording or slides for details on each):
  • Productivity flourishes in environments of trust
  • High-performance organizations prioritize both the
    what and the how of goal achievement
  • Empathy and productivity are not mutually exclusive
  • Generative AI will significantly impact productivity

• Four recommendations from this study are:
  • Create culture fitness for a core of long-term improved productivity. i4cp found that organizations that have fit cultures are 2x more likely to report increased employee productivity since 2020.
  • Focus on goal achievement instead of where a worker sits, but don’t do it at the expense of empathy. Effective leaders can blend an empathetic approach, while still focusing on measurable objectives.
  • Train managers to improve trust. Finding ways to upskill current leaders, and train future ones in the essential manager effectiveness traits will have a big impact on achieving trust with their teams, and ultimately with performance and productivity.
  • Take a thoughtful and proactive approach to AI and the productivity impacts it can make. AI’s biggest impact may be on helping to make workers more efficient and effective, and ultimately more productive.

Links to resources shared on the call:

• Upcoming i4cp virtual events
• i4cp's Next Practices Now conference
• Information on i4cp Membership
• Past i4cp NPW events
• i4cp’s Toolkit: How to hold Leaders accountable for employee experience (members only)
• Article: "How Generative AI Will Forever Change the Role of Instructional Designers"

Access the full The Productivity Predicament series here.