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

To be productive and to make our organisation productive, we have to inspire each person in the organisation to be engaged with the company and their role within it, to want to be the best they can be art their role, to be constructively critical of the way their tasks are carried out, making suggestions

Spoiler alert: Yes it can! Some forms of self-reporting, as part of employee assessment snd review, ask those employees to report on how well they have performed. One would assume that most employees would consider their performance to be good - or at least 'acceptable'. In fact, employees are generally quite honest -and quite perceptive,

We all know of inspirational leaders. We might not know them personally; we might not have worked with them or under them. But we have seen them on the TV, read about them in newspapers and online. Some of these inspirational leaders have emerged as truly successful businessmen - successful over a lengthy time period.

Long-term planning can be difficult for CEOs.  A company is only as good as its latest quarterly report (according to many investors), so today's results are crucial.  Yet, real change— especially culture change— can take years to bring about. Workforce planning needs to be undertaken alongside strategic change, technology change, and process change—all of which are long-term