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

Some organisations treat  people badly as they pursue profit at all costs. Yet this is short-termism of the worst sort. As you travel around and visit various companies, you will invariably see a poster or

The Industrial Revolution was the greatest ever change to UK society, transforming the lives of millions of people. Yet, at the time, many people suffered from appalling work under dreadful conditions. Now the UK is

Politicians often bemoan the UK's poor productivity.  Yet, at the same time, over the last decade they seem to have systematically destroyed much of the further education sector with a policy of 'a thousand cuts'. 

We expect modern managers to be numerate and analytical. We educate and train them to be so. Yet when we look at entrepreneurs we see something else.  We see creativity and passion. Which of these are

I read a comment the other day suggesting that increased private investment in (private) education would improve its productivity. I think this is debatable. As in many other areas, it depends on how you define and

Toyota has had its fair share of problems recently - and has certainly been knocked off the plinth it has been on for some time... held up as a beacon of efficiency and productivity, So,

You will have often heard a phrase like ... Success is a marathon, not a sprint ... indicating that the activity in hand must be addressed with focus and concentration over the longer- term. Well,

Many organisations make some attempt to treat employees well - with recognition and reward systems, flexible approaches to leave, healthcare and so on.  The trouble with such 'benefits' is that they quickly get absorbed into

Certainly in the UK, drones have had a bad press recently - with the disruption caused at London's Gatwick airport. However, the sensible ones among us (and I do - perhaps rather arrogantly - include