There is a lot of discussion about employee face time vs. productive time in both our client community and on some well read blogs and social media. The topic is one that has some importance. We have all lived in a ‘do more with less’ paradigm for many years despite the state of the economy in which we work. The hours that one works is not always a good indicator of the work that is completed. The time and execution ratio often shows a skew that discounts the theory that work hours equate to output or execution. In the knowledge economy that insists much work is self generated the hours worked is a rotten indicator of contribution to an organisation. There are all sorts of variables that contribute to a person’s contribution to an organisation. I would include time spent in planning, innovating, exercising, communicating, learning,creating, and dreaming as time well spent in any organisation that I lead. These measures of time are not dependent upon the time a person spends in the office. In an ideal world people would engage in these activities outside of the work environment. By doing so they magnify the impact they make when they are working. I would recommend you have a look at or re-visit Ricardo Semler. When Ricardo’s work first gained prominence it was pretty scary stuff to a lot of business leaders stuck in command and control. An LMS can provide a powerful platform to support engagement and contribution that is not dependent upon more hours worked. The LMS should be a tool to support people to spend more time exploring, thinking and innovating.
