High Output Management

High managerial productivity, I argue, depends largely on choosing to perform tasks that possess high leverage.

All production flows have a basic characteristic: the material becomes more valuable as it moves through the process.

Shifting the mix of a manager’s activities from those with lower to those with higher leverage.

And as noted, stressing output is the key to improving productivity, while looking to increase activity can result in just the opposite.

To get leverage this way, you first need to create a flow chart of the production process as it exists.

Increasing the leverage associated with the various managerial activities.

if the meeting was worth calling in the first place, the work needed to produce the minutes is a small additional investment (an activity with high leverage) to ensure that the full benefit is obtained from what was done.

An estimate of the dollar cost of a manager’s time, including overhead, is about $100 per hour. So a meeting involving ten managers for two hours costs the company $2,000. Most expenditures of $2,000 have to be approved in advance by senior people—like buying a copying machine or making a transatlantic trip—

The supervisor’s effort at a staff meeting should go into keeping the discussion on track, with the subordinates bearing the brunt of working the issues.