ABCs for Managers Who Lead – U is for Utilize

The question here is “how do we put the available resources to the best practical use to achieve results?” We can use human, natural, financial and infrastructure resources in our daily work, but can we use them effectively and efficiently? This is what we mean by the word “utilize.”

Obviously, the highest type of efficiency is that which can utilize existing material to the best advantage. – Jawaharlal Nehru, first Prime Minister of India following independence.

Effective utilization of resources means that the resources applied to a certain activity have led to the activity being completed. The allocation was the right amount and timed correctly to do the job within the required timeframe.

Efficient utilization of resources means that the least amount of resources were applied to do the job in a timely and high quality manner.

Here’s a story about two different managers and their experiences utilizing their resources:
Tidyanawo in Malawi manages a local NGO focused on reducing maternal mortality. She has a staff of 12 in three clinics. Some of her staff members take extra time off. She knows it, but pays them their full salaries anyway. She does this for two reasons: 1. She knows that many of the staff members have large families they need time and money to care for. If she cuts their pay, their children will suffer. 2. The donors to her NGO want her to spend the money on a set cycle or they will take the funds back and reallocate them to other organizations.

Is Tidyanawo utilizing her human resources well? How about her financial resources? In what ways do you think she could improve her utilization of these resources?

Samuel in a remote area in Kenya manages a similar NGO, but has a very small staff and very little funding so he has had to be creative. Although he only has a staff of six, he has found ways to meet the pre- and post-natal health needs of women in his area as well as to provide skilled delivery services. By developing a micro-credit program in his district focused on sending local women to become certified in midwifery, he not only encourages them to gain skills from which they can make a living, but also expands the number of people in the district who are able to deliver the services provided by the clinics.

Samuel has been creative in his approach to resource utilization and given hope to the local women who participate in the midwifery program through the micro-credit structure.

Utilizing resources well

• Be clear about what you want to achieve.
• Make an inventory of the human, financier, infrastructure, and natural resources you already have.
• Determine both the easiest and fastest way to obtain what you need as well as the least expensive way. Consider all of the options – vendors, volunteer services, free resources and gifts and donations, reusing locally available materials. Using resources that already exist can build teamwork and give the people a sense of ownership they might not have if the facility or the services are just given to them.
• Weigh your options and choose the ones that give you the best quality for the lowest price and within your budget.

See for yourself
Although this resource is business oriented, the components are the sames you. You too are part of a business, primarily providing services, and it is up to you to manage all of the resources available to you as effectively and efficiently as possible for the best possible result.

How do I Make Optimum Use of Business Resources?
by Louise Balle, studioD