|
Zig Ziglar Articles
Author and Renouned International Speaker
For Personal and Business Growth Articles
Increasing Productivity and Profitability
Business Management
 |
| |
You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.
|
|
 |
Zig Ziglar’s Series on Management
Business executive Dr. Alan Wagner says that the real manager with genuine interest in his people will discover that in tough times productivity, loyalty and enthusiasm are factors, and if the organization is unionized members see that management is one of the good guys and negotiations take on a different tone. In short, they realize that labor and management have the same objectives. To get these kinds of results that will increase productivity and profitability, it takes training.
Many times management asks the question, “Why should I train my people and then lose them?” And the answer is very simple: There is one thing worse than training people and losing them, and that is not training them and keeping them.
The benefit of keeping them around and the benefit of training them, as research clearly points out, is that people stay where they grow and are respected and appreciated. With training you add value to the employee; then the employee adds value to the company.
A recent USA Today article carried the information that after studying 400 corporations 60% of the people under 30 years old said their number one desire in working for the company is to develop skills. The opportunity to develop skills was their most important consideration.
Message: To increase the profitability of the company, employees need to perform every day as they do on the day before vacation. I’ve asked hundreds of audiences whether or not they perform better on that day and in 100% of the cases they responded yes, they do. The reason is quite simple. They plan the night before so when they arrive at work the next day they have a game plan that increases their confidence and hence their productivity. I want to emphasize that I’m not talking about working harder. I’m talking about on that day before vacation you had a plan for the next day and so you worked smarter, not harder. Committed people with a game plan just do considerably more.
Employees also need to understand that while they do not work for the company 24 hours a day, they represent the company 24 hours a day. They need to understand that when they are off the job, if their company is mentioned it should always be with praise, and if they have nothing good to say they should say absolutely nothing.
The owner or manager needs to understand that he has two groups of customers-those who are directly employed by the company and the customers whom the direct employees work with. The way management treats its direct employees (or customers) has a bearing on how they in turn will treat their customers (the ones who actually buy from the company).
Several years ago during the Iacocca days at Chrysler we had the privilege of doing some training for them. This was just as they were bringing out the cab forward concept with much flair and publicity. The way it was developed was interesting and very profitable. The company asked the workers if they had any ideas as to how they could improve the quality of the automobile. Of course, those on the line who did the actual work had some ideas-many of them. I’ll mention only two.
Idea number one: Instead of the “pit” where workers had to step down several steps and then look up to work on the underside of the car, workers encouraged management to discontinue the pit because over a period of time they would occasionally slip and fall.
Idea number two: Workers encouraged management to put the automobile frame on a tilt so the workers could stand almost straight up for the majority of the installation instead of having the assembly line level, requiring them to bend over to do the installations. They pointed out this would be much easier and would ease back pains considerably. Chrysler listened and did both.
The increase in quality was dramatic. The reduction in days missed because of injury or illness was substantial. The insurance costs were unbelievably lower than they had previously been. The profits of the company went up dramatically. The neat thing is the direct customers (meaning the workers) were extremely happy, the management was ecstatic, and all of the stockholders were cheering them on. In short, it was a win/win/win situation.
 More Articles by Zig Ziglar
Quotes by Zig Ziglar
Zig Ziglar Biography
More Famous Business Leaders and Motivational Experts Biographies
------
Publishing Guidelines:
Biographies are public domain and may be freely reproduced electronically or in print provided they are published as written.
About the author: A talented author and speaker, Zig Ziglar has an appeal that transcends barriers of age, culture and occupation. Since 1970, he has traveled over five million miles across the world delivering powerful life improvement messages, cultivating the energy of change.
Copyright © Zig Ziglar. All Rights Reserved. | 
HOME ->
Articles ->
Start-Up ->
Quotations ->
Biographies ->
Motivational Articles ->
Zig Ziglar Articles ->
Increasing Productivity and Profitability
by Zig Ziglar, Tom Hopkins, Denis Waitley, Chris Widener