Productive Minimal Sufficiency

There is a dis-ease that is prevalent on the islands. One that has and will continue to erode the economic, social, and spiritual fiber of its inhabitants if a cure is not implemented. This not something that CHC’s doctors can do anything about, but more an issue for all individuals who have jobs that expect them to produce a tangible or intangible result.

To describe this dis-ease, let me tell you about something interesting I noticed several years ago after starting at the college. Being newly hired, I wanted to make a good impression, so I volunteered to participate in a Total Quality Instruction training. When the instructor asked everyone to tell him what we hoped to gain from the training, I was surprised to hear many of the individuals state that they were forced to be there, and that their supervisor would not renew their contract unless they attended the training. I thought it odd that they had to be forced to participate, and I felt out of place saying that I hoped to become a better instructor from the things I learned.

In less than a year, I was selected as the faculty senate president, which meant more committee work. After another year, I was asked to be the acting director of the Small Business Development Center to help resolve some issues left by the previous director, and the next year I was asked to be the department chair. It took about three years for me to notice that some individuals who were getting paid more than me did not serve on any committees or did any additional work other than their required coursework. They basically earned more money, did less work, and had less stress in their lives. I was earning less money, doing more work, and under a lot of stress. Something was wrong with this picture.

I began to notice that there were other individuals, not only at the college, but also in many government and private sector jobs who had mastered the art of Productive Minimal Sufficiency – or PMS for short. This PMS affects both men and women at any age, and if one person in an organization has it, it can spread to others.

PMS basically means that individuals have learned the course of least resistance in their job. They perform at a competency level that allows them to remain employed, but not recognized. To be recognized would mean that an individual might be tasked with extra work, but with no additional compensation or recognition. If she accepts the extra work it could affect her job or a promotion if poor decisions are made. If the extra work goes well it will raise the productivity bar for her and others – which means she will not be very popular with other PMS-infected individuals. People tend to want to keep that bar low because if it rises it will highlight that their work performance was barely sufficient and only passable.

If a degree was offered for this type of behavior, many individuals would have earned their master’s or doctorate. They have learned how to look busy, yet maintain a productivity level that is minimally sufficient. This allows them to keep their job, but ensures that they can take those two-hour lunch breaks and not miss the tee-off on Friday afternoon. Of course, if you look at their schedule you would be impressed with the number of activities that make them look busy, but everyone who works with them knows that they are goof-offs who keep up a good façade for the boss.

Individuals with PMS try to infect this insidious dis-ease on those around them so that it brings the entire work level down to a snail’s crawl. However, it is easily noticed by those invasive customers who keep expecting some kind of service when they interrupt work-challenged people. Trying to do business where PMS has affected the entire organization means that the simplest task requires waiting endlessly in long lines, phone calls that do not get answered, a lot of paperwork and signatures, and multiple visits. The only person authorized to sign or approve something is hardly ever there (usually on some trip to the U.S. for “official” business or “training”).

Over time, this behavior becomes the norm not only within the organization, but it can spread to other organizations and can even infect an entire community. One way to eradicate the problem is to extract the worst offenders and start to reward people for the behavior that is desired by the customer. Make the customer the center of the business and ensure that he is served so well that the competition does not have a chance to steal him away.

Productive Minimal Sufficiency is a problem that hurts everyone and once rooted in an organization is very difficult to eradicate. Catch and cure it early and you could have a more productive environment that keeps your best people and attracts more customers.

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Rik is a business instructor at NMC and Janel is the owner of Positively Outrageous Results. They can be contacted at: biz_results@yahoo.com