In small businesses low productivity is rarely the fault of the workers - it is because the owner/manager has not set up production processes properly -or has failed to manage them effectively. Too many owner/managers

There has been discussion on the Productivity Futures LinkedIn group this week discussing whether productivity and innovation are natural enemies or bedfellows. Of course I chimed in - well, I can't resist - and my

I have started this blog before with words such as ..."I read a survey the other day..."  Sometimes reading the results of these 'business surveys' can be interesting .. but too often it seems the

Teams are sometimes more productive than the sum of their parts - because the 'chemistry' among the team is 'right'. We've all seen such 'chemistry' at work - in working teams and in personal relationships.

Productivity is a 'neutral' measure - it doesn't come with praise or blame attached.  To understand the reasons behind the figures we have to dig deeper, sometimes much deeper, than the headlines. For example, we

We all need a bit of ‘me-time’ … when we forget about all the tasks we have on our To-Do list, forget all our work pressures, forget our commitments and concentrate on ourselves.  ‘Me-time’ needn’t be

I've been doing a lot of writing recently.  I'm lucky - I find that words just come out - easily - in torrents.  My problem is not writing; its marshalling my thoughts and turning the

What will lead you to higher productivity in 2015? New products, new technologies, new structures? For most organisations, the answer is none of these.  Those that succeed in improving their productivity will do so by

I read recently that Coca-Cola has withdrawn its voicemail system from its Atlanta headquarters in an effort to improve productivity.  Callers now get a simple message suggesting they should use another means of contact. Voicemail

Most people are more effective workers in the morning - when fresh.  As the day goes on, most of us tire.  The problem is that we don't always recognise this - and we take decisions,

Approaching the end of another year is a time for reflection - personal reflection and, if you are brave enough, organisational reflection.  What have you - and your organisation - learned this year that will

Labour productivity is all over the place for many Western nations.  It rises, it slows, it plateaus.  It is hard to predict as these countries struggle to climb out of recession.  Productivity fuels economic growth

Clusters have been proved to a useful development tool - bringing together companies - and people - from similar industries/activities - to share knowledge and  experience, and to collaborate.  A similar effect can be created

This blog is concerned with regional, national and organisational productivity. Rarely do we 'stray into' personal productivity - largely because I think it is more or less irrelevant in terms of raising those other productivities

I recently had a day off - by 'off' I mean no fixed appointments. I decided to work from home - but I found I got little done. I found the peace and quiet, the

I was in Italy recently ... and I used public transport quite a bit - trains and buses.  All the journeys I made were on time, and to schedule. Of course, public transport is subsidised

At the end of your next day at work ask yourself ... "If we carry on working like this on these tasks, how will we be different - and better - in 5 years time?" 

I have been in discussions many times with businessmen and advisers about whether firms should concentrate on their productivity or their quality - which has the biggest impact on success. Of course the quick answer

We occasionally see reports or thoughts on the productivity of education - but it is a tricky situation to get to grips with ... partly because it is so hard to define outputs - and

There are lots of sites and blogs on the web which purport to be about productivity.  Many of these are about what might be termed 'personal productivity' - time management, self-motivation, etc.  This set me

I can be as guilty as the next person is hailing specific concepts and practices as being important determinants of higher productivity.  But we should stop searching for the 'secret' - the panacea - and

A personal 'productivity' tip sometimes referred to as 'Seinfeld's Chain' after Jerry Seinfeld, the US comedian is a useful reminder of the need to 'keep at it'.  The story is that, when he started writing,

Employees work - and work hard  - for various reasons. Obviously there are contractual reasons - they take the money and have to 'put in the hours'. But above and beyond what they are contracted

Last week I talked about gamification - and whether it could be used to help improve productivity If you weren't thinking about it then, I hope you are now - Ambient research suggests that game-based learning will grow