In-School Productivity Campaign | We can be productive despite challenges

We've all faced tough situations, and our reactions to them may be quite different. The 'going' gets rough often, sometimes every day. The recent popular phrase "the struggle is real", seems to aptly capture our everyday realities. You may be able to relate to one or more of these tough situations and the typical responses: "I am tired of trying to convince my colleagues of ... I'll just keep quiet", "This report is due tomorrow, but I'm so exhausted ... I'll rush it through in the morning", "I have so much to do and no one appreciates how hard it is ... what's the point?" or finally, "I'm not feeling well ... better call in sick".

The reactions to tough situations identified above, if characteristic of the average employee, could easily reduce the overall productivity of a firm. Toshinobu Kasai, in a 2016 article written for the World Economic Forum, indicated that "Overworked employees report more health problems, and as a direct consequence are less productive and use more sick days". A 1991 study out of the University of California, Berkeley, by Clair Brown and Vince Valvano showed that employees who respond to difficult relationships with colleagues by displaying adversarial attitudes and distrust were also highly unproductive. Yet another study by the Aberdeen Group in 2013 demonstrated that drops in productivity were directly related to lack of recognition of staff by the leadership of the organisation.

But what is a 'tough' situation really, and what makes some persons so productive and successful despite challenges? A 2018 Harvard Business Review research report by Zenger and Folkman, titled '7 Traits of Super-Productive People', showed that highly productive people had the following characteristics:

i) stretched themselves to achieve more,

ii) were consistent in their rate and degree of productivity over time,

iii) possessed the knowledge and expertise to do the work,

iv) competed and strived for results,

v) anticipated and solved problems,

vi) initiated action, and

vii) sought to collaborate.

Perhaps when these super-producers are faced with tough situations like difficult colleagues, impending deadlines, or illness, they employ their skills to overcome the challenges. The 'toughness' of the situation may therefore be in how it is perceived and our preparedness for it, rather than in its objective reality.

Zenger and Folkman did not shed light on why super-producers react differently, compared to the average employee.

What is an action logic?

In a 2005 article published by Rooke and Torbert, they argued that the tough situations we perceive are directly related to our action logic or mindset. An action logic basically describes the rules we store mentally that guide how we react to a situation, and are tied to our degree of adult development. A leader with an 'opportunist' action logic, for example, sees the world and the problems in it, in terms of unilateral winning and losing. A tough situation for him would be when his power is threatened or questioned.

A 'diplomat', on the other hand, feels challenged when she has to show leadership by doing something unpopular which may cause others to dislike her. She would happily relinquish power for the sake of being liked.

For an 'expert' leader, a difficult situation is when colleagues are not as efficient as her and 'waste time', and she cares little whether she is liked or not. According to Rooke and Torbert's view of leadership, the more we progress developmentally, hopefully with time, the way we see the world and the challenges within it will change as well.

If we accept that tough situations are, at least partially, a product of our imagination and mindsets, and can be overcome through skill building and changing our perceptions, then there is good news for increasing productivity in firms. The famous self-help guru, Dr Wayne Dyer, once said, "If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." However, W. I. Thomas also famously said that "if men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences". Perhaps productivity and tough situations come down to how we choose to perceive them.

- Marina Ramkissoon is a senior lecturer in the Psychology Unit of the Department of Sociology Psychology and Social Work, and associate dean - graduate studies, in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of the West Indies, Mona campus. She is also productivity ambassador for JPC. Dr Ramkissoon has more than 10 years' experience teaching HRD, work motivation, organisational learning and social psychology.