I was delighted during the weekend just gone when an employee – a fellow from Germany who is travelling and working in N.Z. currently with three friends – who reports to me, came-up to me at the end of the working day and said in response to me sharing my thoughts that I felt the day had been a highly productive one…”always remember Peter, happy employees will work hard enjoying what they do”.
I smiled, for what he had just shared with me I know to be an absolute truism – an indisputable fact which has proven itself over and over during my lifetime.
His sharing of the aforementioned expression also caused me to reflect on a question that a Hawke’s Bay based Accountant asked me during my time as a Business Advisor for the Hawke’s Bay region. That being, “what’s more important, a positive workplace culture or productivity”; to which I replied “without question a positive workplace culture will prove to be the most important factor for any business in ensuring admirable productivity levels and a sustainable business…culture is the most powerful determinant of productivity”.
On Saturday just gone the apple pack house team that I work with in Hawke’s Bay was absolutely soaring – both in mood/ attitude and where aptitude is concerned. Every person throughout the team (which comprises people from Europe, South America, New Zealand, Pacific Islands and beyond) applied themselves thoroughly to the task in front of them, and did so cheerfully. A high spirited, positive and productive work environment looks like this: