Is Your Business Struggling with Productivity? Here’s How to Turn it Around!

How well is your company performing? If you’re caught up in the day-to-day details of running a business, this might not be a question you have time to stop and think about.

Many managers in businesses all over the world know that they have a performance problem, but they lack clarity for how to fix them. For these owners and managers, it’s not that recognizing performance problems is difficult — it’s the fixing of those problems that can be overwhelming. Others know they have productivity problems but cannot get clear on exactly what they are and have no idea what to start fixing. And yet another group of owners and managers are complacent with their businesses and unaware that they could be performing at higher levels.

In all of these scenarios the business could benefit from the perspective of a guide who is focused on performance and productivity. I recently had a chance to talk with Bryan Howard of Mercury Performance Group, who is regarded as the #1 human performance expert for companies of more than 500 employees. Howard has worked with some of the nation’s biggest companies like TIAA, Chase, Wells Fargo, EverBank, Acosta and more. 

Howard has the ability to diagnose and fix any business problems, and in the course of our conversation, he shared eight of the key factors that can make or break a business:

• Performance and productivity
• Employee retention
• Employee engagement 
• Customer engagement
• Reputation of the brand
• Interpersonal communication and conflict
• Governance, regulations and protecting yourself from lawsuits

For those owners and managers who aren’t sure where they stand in any of these eight areas, Howard has developed the M-Factor Quiz, a diagnostic tool with 10 questions ranging on topics from feelings of overwhelm to brand reputation to regulatory compliance to employee retention.

After using the quiz to highlight a business’s issues, Howard says the solutions always boil down to making employees happy. Creating a company culture in which the employees are seen, heard and satisfied leads to greater productivity and performance. To create that high-performing culture, you have to have confidence that there are tools and resources to fix these challenges.

Howard knows it’s possible because he does it all the time. As founder of Mercury Performance Group, he specializes in empowering employees and improving performance in companies of 500 up to 350,000 employees.

But it wasn’t always this way. After dropping out of high school, Howard didn’t continue his education until later in life. Degrees finally in hand, he aggressively climbed the corporate ladder for decades and burnt himself out in the process. He was stressed and overworked until one day he found himself flat on his back in the hospital in need of triple bypass heart surgery. That was the wakeup call he needed, and it’s what planted the seed and forced him out of being an employee and becoming a business leader and visionary.

“Climbing the corporate ladder is really a fruitless endeavor,” he says. “What it’s about for me now is helping other people. I continue to work in corporate America but now it is with an approach of gratitude and generosity.”

Now he thrives on providing business solutions by multiplying employees’ skills and talents and getting the entire company to work as a cohesive team. This is precisely what he does in his own company as well.

“Bryan is a great listener and encourages people to share their experiences without bias and expands and learns from them,” says Amy Redmond, Howard’s office manager. “He speaks to everyone, executive to admin, in any setting at the same interest and kindness level, which is rare.”

Howard’s former employer, Tisha Lucero, also experienced his team-building skills, “Bryan is an experienced professional with a keen business intuition. He has a knack for connecting with people using his broad range of experiences, which helps build strong relationships. His ideas are innovative and solutions oriented, and he stays up to date on business trends and has a broad understanding of various industries and their markets.”  

In Howard’s mind, the perfect company culture is one that rewards employees and vendors, provides a purpose for people so that they leap out of bed every day ready to seize the day and cares about its employees’ families as much as their own. He aims to help companies thrive and improve performance and profitability through their employees by boosting motivation and personal satisfaction through tools in his M-Factor Toolkit, Mercury Success Manifesto Guide, Day-in-the-Life Implementation Video and more.

What  motivates him are his 5G’s of Personal and Professional Success:

• Grit – self regulation passion, purpose, perseverance and positivity
• Growth – thriving on challenge, willing to fail and learn, intelligence is an ability can be developed
• Gratitude- an attitude of appreciation and reciprocity under any circumstances
• Generosity – willingness to give time, talent and treasure to those who need it
• Grace – tendency to act with kindness, courtesy, acceptance and forgiveness

It’s about putting people first. Howard shifts the corporate paradigm by putting employees and staff at the center of the company. Then it comes down to recruitment, hiring people who align with company culture and making sure every person is engaged with the company’s values. 

Howard empowers leaders to tap into employees’ potential by recognizing every person has talents that will shine if put in the right position. He believes that involving staff and employees in decision making is empowering and that empowered people are what transform organizations.

With decades of experience, Howard knows these universal principles produce measurable results. He combines that knowledge with the power of technology and AI for impressive results. 

If you could work with someone with decades of experience with hundreds of technical multipliers at their fingertips, why wouldn’t you? To learn more about Mercury Performance Group and Bryan Howard, corporate America’s #1 human performance expert, and to take advantage of their free diagnostic tools like the M-Factor Quiz, go to www.MercuryPG.com/free and check out my full interview and transcript with Bryan on the Podcast.