Managers make plans. They do it often and over long periods of time. The rest of their time is spent executing those plans. However, as we all know, sometimes things go wrong. Worse still, often those things going wrong are outside of your control or sphere of influence - you are simply a victim of their effects. Effective
As a productivity professional, you get into the habit of asking 'awkward' questions - why do we do that?; why do you do that in that way?; But there are other questions that can be just as useful in uncovering the reasons for lost productivity. Occasionally, you've should go to the key points in a
What is the relationship between safety at work and the productivity of that work? Organisations that fail to take all possible safety measures are obviously more at risk of accidents and injuries - and in many countries, a risk of prosecution. These consequences can naturally have a negative effect on performance and productivity. However, these are only
Workforce engagement is important because it is linked with (and underpins) effort, innovation, productivity, and retention—and in industries/sectors/geographical areas with a competitive landscape and a shortage of talent, it can make or break a company, its culture, its performance, and its ability to succeed. What is 'engagement'? In essence, it is the emotional attachment employees feel for
Many leaders think they are elite - special at what they do, leaders of the pack. However many of those same leaders, if we analysed their performance and their success record, would turn out to be reasonably well organised, with systems and processes that are are good enough, and a productivity level that is acceptable.
There are many ways to improve productivity and performance - via technology, process change, culture change and so on. But with each one, we need to measure the success (or otherwise) of our initiative to understand what works in our organisation. We need to identify which metrics are the most important for determining efficiency and the
Interruptions are distractions. Those people who constantly respond to texts, emails and messaging systems might feel 'in the loop' but their productivity is probably woefully low. Discipline is needed to wait until an appropriate time when the task in hand is finished or can be paused with no detriment. Those who cannot be disciplined should turn off their technology
Most people, on starting a new job, turn up with a positive attitude. They may be nervous about the new situation but they want to do well, to succeed, and in return to be valued and fairly rewarded. Yet some of these employees will end up being 'let go' or demoted for poor performance. What goes
We all know that hard work is needed to be truly successful. However, we also know that hard work alone is not enough. We need our hard work to be in the right direction. One common expression of this phenomenon is that managers are very good at doing things right, but leaders are good at
It is getting increasingly common for firms to introduce opportunities for volunteering amongst their staff. This may be partly altruistic - attempting to do some good for a national charity or for the local community - but most of the firms that do it, do so for ‘selfish’ reasons. They want to show some community and/or