Blog2020-11-04T19:42:16+00:00

Is this a fair judgement?

By |January 6th, 2018|Categories: Productivity|

Australia's Productivity commission has slated the public sector for its poor productivity. Yet when you read the report what it is really saying is that the public sector, unlike the private sector, fails to measure

Listen to this

By |December 30th, 2017|Categories: Productivity|

We are about to enter a New Year.  Many people at this time make resolutions (personal promises) to change some aspect of their behaviour - like giving up drinking alcohol, going on a diet, managing

What’s the problem?

By |December 23rd, 2017|Categories: Productivity|

Data over the last decade suggests that labour productivity has been rising in developed countries but overall (or multi-factor) productivity has declined. This means that people are working harder but 'the system' is letting them

Granted

By |December 16th, 2017|Categories: Productivity|

When nations establish productivity campaigns and initiatives, one feature is often financial support for companies (snd perhaps  universities and support agencies). Firms are encouraged to apply for grant funding for additional resources or for specific

Unthinking the good stuff

By |December 9th, 2017|Categories: Productivity|

Sometimes you hear or see something which really surprises you - and makes you think hard about your existing frame of reference.  Take this which I heard on the radio the other day... A scientist

No Choice

By |December 2nd, 2017|Categories: Productivity|

I saw a piece recently suggesting that India has to choose between its traditional focus on spirituality and morality - and on modern profit-focused business methods. What say I? I say 'Rubbish!" There is no

Skill up!

By |November 18th, 2017|Categories: Productivity|

The UK's productivity performance - as reported by the Office for National Statistics and used in international performance tables- has been woeful recently.  I know I have argued in the past that the measurement scheme

Learning about education

By |November 11th, 2017|Categories: Productivity|

Some universities and colleges in the US are now being funded according to a productivity-based formula. Does this make sense? What is the productivity of a university? how is it measured?  Number of degrees per

Is Africa ready?

By |November 4th, 2017|Categories: National Productivity|

A recent discussion paper from the African Union suggests that the fact that Asia has achieved the highest economic growth rates in the world in the last half century may not be unrelated to the

Think – than act!

By |October 28th, 2017|Categories: Productivity|

At a recent Institute of Management Services event in the UK, I was lucky to share a platform with Prof. Colin Coulson-Thomas - -a an expert in corporate transformation. His views (thankfully) overlapped with, and

What’s your productivity plan?

By |October 21st, 2017|Categories: Productivity|

Productivity doesn't just happen - it has to be designed in to the business, supporting the overall strategic vision and plan and underpinned by the establishment of key metrics. So, you need a plan.  What

Concentrate on the future

By |October 14th, 2017|Categories: Productivity|

In 1940, one farmer supplied about 11 people with food for the year. Changes over time -especially in technology - mean that today the average farmer in the United States supplies 155 people with food

Keep your thingy

By |October 7th, 2017|Categories: Productivity|

'Thingy' is a word used in the UK by many people to represent something whose name they cannot recall - a 'whatdyacallit', a 'thingymajig'.  All cultures and languages have such words. I use it here

Are We Too Open?

By |September 30th, 2017|Categories: Productivity|

Has the open plan office had its day? When they were first introduced, they were seen as being facilitators of communication, interaction and cooperation - bringing disparate groups together. Now when I see them I

Time for strategy

By |September 23rd, 2017|Categories: Productivity|

Fairly recently, the UK government issued a draft Industrial Strategy.  Any discussion on this seems to have been drowned out by the Brexit rhetoric.  Yet it is too important to ignore. UK productivity is low

Robots rise – productivity falls

By |September 16th, 2017|Categories: Productivity|

Last week we talked about productivity levels - and the conundrum about unemployment and wage levels. I suggested, as I have done several times lately, that we might need to reconsider how we measure productivity

Another productivity conundrum

By |September 9th, 2017|Categories: Productivity|

Most of the old economic certainties have gone. For many years, the 'rule' was the as unemployment levels dropped, wages would rise (to entice workers away from others to your organisation).  Since the great 2008

The Power of Benchmarking

By |September 1st, 2017|Categories: Productivity|

The UK government recently established the Productivity Leadership Group (PLG)  to try and boost the nation's productivity. The PLG says that if all except our most competitive businesses were able to improve their productivity to

What should we measure?

By |August 19th, 2017|Categories: Productivity|

France takes the summer off.  many factories close down for a month while workers holiday en masse. Other European countries also take longer holidays than the UK. Yet the productivity of these countries is higher.

Too UK-centric?

By |August 5th, 2017|Categories: Productivity|

A few of my recent posts have related to U K productivity and challenges.  This is not because the UK faces more challenges than anyone else (though Brexit is  causing some fears). The UK is

Politicians need to grow up

By |July 29th, 2017|Categories: Productivity|

f your employees were fighting in factions, arguing among themselves and failing to do what you expect them to do, would you continue to pay them?  You might - but presumably you would also initiate

The UK’s lost decade

By |July 22nd, 2017|Categories: Productivity|

UK productivity in the first quarter of 2017 was the same as it was in 2007.  This  after relentless if sometimes slow growth over many years.So, not only have we not had the bounce i

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