With jobless claims at its lowest rate in over 50 years, virtually every industry is suffering from a labor shortage, and commercial integrators have not been spared. The pundits point to a variety of causes, but in fact, the labor shortage is most likely a symptom of what is being referred to as “the mother of all recoveries,” stoking the economy. GDP growth is at its highest in nearly 40 years and, according to the US Congressional Budget Office, economic growth is expected to continue compounding at an unprecedented rate of 4.0% for the next nine years.
In other words, this labor shortage isn’t going away! To “ride the wave” for the next several years, you should focus on increasing output and project throughput using your existing team.
How, you ask? Here are some key steps which can result in a 20-30% increase in productivity and project throughput without expanding the size of your team.
Employee engagement and morale. Are you getting the most possible out of your team members? Of course not. You may be getting 95% out of a few, but I bet you’re only getting 60% out of others. The Gallup organization’s employee engagement assessment tool, Q12, is a quick (12 questions), inexpensive, anonymous, and easy to administer tool for understanding your team’s level of engagement, and will provide some guidance on the areas that need further attention.
- I know what is expected of me at work.
- I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right.
- At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.
- In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.
- My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.
- There is someone at work who encourages my development.
- At work, my opinions seem to count.
- The mission or purpose of my company makes me feel my job is important.
- My associates or fellow employees are committed to doing quality work.
- I have a best friend at work.
- In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress.
- This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.
Best Practices. Successful implementation of employee engagement tactics gets your team more aligned, engaged, connected, and focused, but do they know HOW to do their job in the manner that derives the best and most consistent results? This is where best practices come into play. Simple things like standardizing meeting days/times, cadences, agendas, and formats can go a long way towards creating a consistent and predictable working environment. Similarly, standardizing communication tools and protocols keep information flowing, so team members are always suitably informed. Then, standard operating procedures (SOPs) need to be developed to tell employees, “this is how we do it here”. Think of SOPs as step-by-step guides, shared across departments, that inform employees what tasks need to be completed, by whom, and in what order for all major (and eventually minor) functions of the business.
Productivity Tools. Once best practices are developed, software does an amazing job enforcing and automating those processes. Many system integrators have invested in industry-specific software solutions, such as D-Tools’ end-to-end core business software for commercial integrators, but few exploit the full power of these tools. As a result, productivity gains may only be marginal. Those organizations that have taken the time to understand the software’s capabilities, set it up optimally, train their staff fully, and implement across the organization will tell you that it is the best business decision they have ever made. The productivity gains are enormous.
– D-Tools CEO, Randy Stearns
