Sub:- Productivity improvement

Recent visits to various Sheds have highlighted the urgent need for instituting  various system and practices for improving Shed floor working and staff effectiveness.

1. Institute a system of Feedback:

 A system of providing feedback to all officials including SSEs and JEs should be instituted. Positive feedback should be publicly given for morale boosting and detailed feedback should be given separately in a structured regular interaction.  System of providing regular feedback should be practiced by all Shed Officers and Supervisors for all persons working under them.

 When we don't provide prompt feedback to our people, we're depriving them of the opportunity to improve their performance.

2. Make yourself available to Your Team:

 All officers must make time available to their team members to provide support and guidance when team members need it. Structured time slot specifically for your people should be provided in your schedule. Please promote the habit of active listening and have a regular time when "your door is always open", so that your people know when they can get your help.  Shed floor visits and section visits should be used effectively to solve sectional issues and to stay in touch with Shed staff.

3. Effective monitoring mechanism:

Section wise performance should be monthly reviewed to provide timely support and course correction before sectional performance deteriorates drastically. Micromanagement should be avoided but going to the opposite extreme (with a hand-offs management style) isn't a good idea either – you need to get the balance right.

4. Clear defined Goals:

Clear goals and performance targets should be issued for each sectional Supervisors and officers so that they know what is expected from them. Performance evaluation of each official should be done based on compliance of targets set for them. When your people don't have clear goals, they can't prioritize their workload effectively and tend to muddle through their day. They can't be productive if they have no idea what they're working for, or what their work means.

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5. Positivity and role model:

All Shed officials should exhibit positivity around their work place, shun negativity & unnecessary negative comments, as, negativity has force multiplier effect and is picked up immediately by people around you. As a leader, you need to be a role model for your team.

6. Delegation and mentoring:

 For each task develop and mentor a replacement in every section for succession planning, increasing bench strength and emergencies. I find a solitary staff/supervisor for number of critical tasks/section which shows lack of effort in developing skill base, bench strength and it must be corrected immediately.

Tendency to not delegate is based on the feeling that no one else can do key jobs properly. This can cause huge problems as work bottlenecks around, impeding performance and decision making.

Delegation does take a lot of effort up-front, and it can be hard to trust your team to do the work correctly. But unless you delegate tasks, you're never going to have time to focus on the "broader-view", What's more, you'll fail to develop your people so that they can take the pressure off you.

Implementation of above actions maybe reported separately or through MCDO in Good work done.