Focus! Focus! Focus! That’s the advice we are given. If we focus, we can perform, we can achieve. But as with all such exhortations, such simplistic advice, such trite sayings, there is another side to examine. Those who don;t focus all the time, who don’t keep their mind fixed on the way ahead, on the goal,
There have been numerous reports lately of organisations cutting working hours to increase the engagement of employees, whilst paying the same salaries. This is said to improve productivity. I am somewhat skeptical of such reports - and of the projects that generate them. I am totally in favour of increasing the engagement of employees but this has to be done in
Story-telling is becoming recognised as a very effective means of communication. People react better to an interesting narrative than to a boring set of facts or exhortations. So, telling people your vision, and what you expect them to do to support it, is largely a waste of time. But tell them a story set in
If we give our staff a list of objectives to meet or tasks to complete, they will generally do so. After all, most come to work to do a good job and to please their employer. If we give them lots of tasks to do, they will need to prioritise. Their priorities will not necessarily be
That headline does not mean we should stop making plans. Those who don’t plan, don’t succeed. It means that we must recognise that a post-pandemic world causes us to rethink some of the old certainties. The Omicron variant of the virus is resulting in many more people catching the virus, though, luckily, generally with less severe results.
When undertaking productivity assignments in some countries, it is surprising to find out how far performance and productivity is from that of the best performing countries snd organisations. This in spite of the data that is available on the web, in specialists journals and even in general news. One of the benefits of benchmarking is
Do you know the real underlying causes of downtime and reasons for employee inactivity? Are you able to act on these causes in time to negate their effects? If ‘yes’ to both, you have clearly got your solution and you are on the way to higher productivity. If ‘No/‘Yes;, either you’re a liar or
Managers who hear their employees laughing may be angry at the lack of discipline, art the lack of concentration, at the lack of serious effort. Yet, laughter serves a variety of purposes in a work situation. It is a good de-stresser, reducing anxiety , worry and tension. It serves to bring people together, helping team
When we diet, we usually start with great enthusiasm and we probably have some initial success. We buy new foods and ingredients, try new recipes. We might go to gather gym more often band try out new exercises. However, this enthusiasm soon fades and we start to ease up on the diet, the exercise regime
Many of us beat ourselves up at the end of the day because we haven’t been able to complete our ToDo list - which just gets longer and longer. However instead of bemoaning what we didn’t do, we should recognise and celebrate what we did. What have been our achievements today? What good things have we