The Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPM) has urged business leaders and Human Resource (HR) professionals to rethink traditional approaches to productivity; since  organisational performance in today’s challenging economic environment is determined more by leadership quality, workplace culture, and system design, than external economic conditions.

Speaking at the Corporate Members Forum 2026, organised by the institute, its President, Mallam Ahmed Ladan Gobir, advised organisations to move beyond viewing productivity as a mere operational metric, but a leadership imperative, capable of driving long-term competitiveness and growth.

He explained that the forum tagged,”Re-engineering Employee Productivity Amidst Macroeconomic Stress”, was designed to bring together business executives, HR leaders, and corporate decision-makers, with the aim of examining strategies for sustaining performance amid inflationary pressures, exchange rate volatility, talent shortages, and technological disruption.

According to him, while many organisations blame economic conditions for declining performance.

“The biggest threat to productivity in today’s economy is not actually inflation. It is uninspired leadership.

 “Inflation may increase the cost of doing business, but uninspired leadership increases the cost of lost ideas. Exchange rates may depreciate currencies, but toxic leadership depreciates human confidence,” he stated.

The CIPM boss noted that despite economic uncertainty, organisations that invest in people, inspire purpose, and build resilient cultures are more likely to emerge stronger from challenging periods.

 

Mallam Gobir described human capital as Nigeria’s greatest resource, stressing that sustainable productivity growth depends on leaders’ ability to unlock the potential of their workforce.

Delivering the keynote presentation, the Managing Director of SoftAlliance and Resources Limited, Dr. Bisi Aina, described productivity challenges confronting organisations, today, as  fundamentally systemic, rather than employee-related.

Drawing attention to rising inflation, exchange rate pressures, escalating operating costs and the continued loss of skilled professionals through migration, Dr. Aina said organisations must redesign work systems instead of demanding more effort from employees.