Many firms believe that technology will make them more productive - technology in their main processes and in their communication/administrative processes. Technology, of course, can be an aid to productivity. But it is only really

A few weeks ago I wrote about the need to take some time away from the pressures of work to recharge your body and mind and come back stronger.  Here is little tip (hack?) complementary

I have been reading and writing about Lean quite a bit recently. It is one if those topics where the more you know and the more you read, the more you realise you don’t know. 

Recently I talked about value - and the fact that it is not a straightforward phenomenon.  What I didn’t mention in that piece was the topic of what you value ... personally. Presumably if you

There are lots of blogs written about topics such as a The 7 habits of the Superperformers, suggesting we can learn from what successful business people and entrepreneurs do to make them successful. Well, we

Lean Thinking emphasises the concept of value - which in business is the creation of product/service features and attributes that the customer wants or needs AND is willing to pay for. The second criterion of

Are you doing everything you can to make your organisation efficient? Do you run a very ‘tight’ and ‘lean’ company.. Good! But it’s not enough. Efficiency is the baseline. It is where all organisations should

I saw someone suggesting the other day that increased private  investment in (private) education would improve its productivity. Think this is debatable? As in many other areas, it depends on how you define and measure

Remote or distance working (often referred to as ‘working from home’) has become increasingly popular over the last decade. There is no doubt that fir many job roles, the technology exists to facilitate such working.

Interesting question, is it not?  I guess you found it interesting or you wouldn't be reading this. So what do you need? Well fundamentally - just one thing. A burning desire to identify and eliminate

I talked recently to the Young Fabians (a UK-based left wing think tank) about "Britain's puzzlingly poor productivity".  In such situations, people often want to know the 'secrets' or the 'answers'. The YF were too

I used to ask myself the question... What have you done today to improve the organisation? Now I am older and wiser, I ask ... What have you done today to improve your life? After

UK productivity has been bad for quite a long time and productivity growth is currently low. What impact will BREXIT (the departure of the UK from the European Union) have? Well, we don't know all

Do you use a task manager to help you schedule tasks and activities?  Many people do.  There are many apps out there to help you. Do you wake each morning, look at your list of

What is the most important thing to be done in a business? Is it creating the vision? Is it setting strategy? Is it managing people? Is it building a supply chain? Well, all of these

We are often asked to reflect on 'what we think'.  But, rarely, on how we think. Many of us are charged with making improvements, with innovation, with important planning and decision-making.  How we think -

"Our people are our greatest assert:".  So say most companies.  Yet few of them behave as if they really believe it. They fail to involve, empower - even train and develop - their employees and

I have spent much of my life urging companies to become more efficient - and helping them to do do. But, of course, I know that some do not go far enough. Becoming more efficient

Recruitment is perhaps the most important function you ever undertake If you don't recruit talented, skilled, flexible staff, you can't expect your staff to exhibit talent, skill and flexibility. But you also have to create

If you run an organisation - and run it well, how do you manage to keep it running well when you are not there.  This can certainly be a problem for small, startups and growing

Should we focus our improvement efforts on improving the quality of what we do ... or in improving the productivity It doesn't matter. Productivity and Quality are inextricably linked. Improving quality adds value to goods

Do you know how well your competitors are doing - not in terms of their results but operationally? They might have better results but be a worse performer because they are bigger than you. They

When running a race, an athlete has to be in peak condition, with no injuries. They also have to be aware of the capabilities of their opponents and set their tactics accordingly (especially for long

Remember ergonomics?  Not many people seem to. I often see products that look like the designer has no idea of the shape and size of a typical person.  They may have been designed for an