Millions of dollars are wasted every day in organizations, through lack of awareness of the need to constantly improve productivity. Most of it can be stopped through a concerted effort at all levels of management, supervision and on the construction site to produce results.

Traditionally, the concept of productivity centered on the efficiency ratio between input and output but today productivity has evolved to include the human element - the productive capacity of people. By careful training, education, planning, assisting and coordinating the activities of employees solid improvements can be made. To be effective you must consistently think, act and speak productivity, thus displaying leadership in this vital area.

In any team approach to improving productivity, there are a number of fundamental aspects which should be borne in mind:

• Productivity is a state of mind and should be promoted as such. Involve as many employees as possible in the search to improve productivity so that as many as possible feel, to some extent, the success of the program rests with them.
• It should be a continuing program, for it is never finished. Improving productivity should therefore be permanent, alive and part of the organization at all levels.
• Attaining high productivity is a continuing program, for the environment is always changing. Improving productivity should therefore be an ongoing integral part of the organization at all levels.
• Concentration should be made on controlling the controllable. Unless care is exercised, much time and money can be wasted trying to control the uncontrollable.

As a leader in your company your goal is to produce more with fewer employees for customers who demand more for less. And that challenge requires asking yourself, "Do my employees have the necessary skills to do the job?" If the answer is yes then your company can have a high performance level. However, the next question you need to ask yourself addresses the question of productivity. Ask yourself "how efficiently do my employees do their job?" Unfortunately, many companies find there is a gap between an employees' ability to do the job and their ability to be productive. If your supervisors are spending too much time explaining what they want the crews to do you may need to improve your communication to improve productivity. Before you can improve systems and methods of operation to improve productivity you must have clear communication. The following example illustrates a typical communication problem:

Rusty just completed a leader's morning "huddle" before the rest of the crews got to work. He was sure that each of his foremen were clear on the changes needed that day because of equipment problems, a slight change in the customer needs and the fact that they were short a few laborers due to illness and vacations. However, within 30 minutes of concluding the meeting, Rusty was receiving phone calls from his foremen, each asking him to repeat what he had said earlier.