The Difference Between Busy And Productive

Busy doesn't mean productive

Most employees know how to look busy without achieving much and unless you are working closely with that employee you may not notice that they are not productive.

• Busy or productive?
• What is the difference between busy and productive?
• How do I fix productivity?
• Busy or Productive - Summary

Busy or Productive?

Are we busy or are we productive? That is often a question that you as a leader must ask yourself. Everybody knows the difference between busy and productive but still prefer to look busy.

I am too busy or I'll do it when I'm not too busy is the most common expression that you will hear in a day's work.

Before you can identify if you're busy or productive you need to know what is busy and what is productive. 

Managing the productivity of the workplace takes skill and time but it is a necessity not to be overlooked.

If you look at the dictionary busy is described as having a great deal to do and that is exactly what it is. Everybody has a lot to do in order to achieve organizational goals.

But at the end of the day can any results be shown from being too busy or is there still just as much to do at the end of the day?

What is the difference between busy and productive?

Also at the same time, the dictionary tells you that productivity is the quality of producing something and the effectiveness of the effort. 

It's measurable and when you can clearly see the output result vs the input. Below we can see there is a big difference between being busy and being productive.

Busy will normally result in one of the following:

• Not achieving goals
• Delayed projects
• Substandard performances
• Low quality of work
• Lack of motivation
• Lack of team spirit
• Work overload
• Important matters left on the wayside

Productivity has a different outcome and as we already said there is a measurable input-output which will show in the following results:

• Goals are achieved
• Team spirit and morale is higher
• Results are positive
• Your team is motivated and focused
• There's always time to be innovative
• New Concepts are born

So you will ask yourself how do we become productive instead of busy?

How do I fix productivity?

There are many things that you can do as a leader to ensure that your team is productive in what they do. 

Two of the most important things are work measurement and process development.

Work measurement will require you to identify key performance areas and create key performance indicators to guide you and your team to success.

There is a lot of Productivity Software on the market that will not only assist you in keeping track of your projects and tasks but will also highlight any anomalies in your processes.

If your team knows that everything that is important will be measured then it will direct their focus on the important stuff instead of trivial pursuits.

Let the team know what is important and what is indicators will be measured against. Everybody at the end of the day is responsible for results and positive outcomes for the organization. 

Nobody is there just to be busy.

In order for them to be guided in the right direction, it is your task as the leader to make sure that all the necessary processes are in place and maintained.

Creating a culture of sticking to processes will make life much easier and goals more achievable.

Busy or Productive - Summary

In summary, if you want your team to be productive then they must be kept busy with the right things and not be left alone to make their own decision on what is important and what is not. 

Make sure your team is aware of what the difference is between being busy and being productive. This awareness will lead to an increase in productivity.