Happy New Year
Each year we say to friends, family and colleagues, "Happy New Year" - either as the 1st January rolls around or the first time we see them in the new year. What we are saying
Soccer Lessons
It is obvious that good soccer coaches or mangers earn the respect of their players and create a ‘playing system’ and an environment (or culture) in which players want to perform for their colleagues, club
Getting Engaged
HR professionals have been trying for years to discover how to improve employee engagement and productivity, A collaboration between Wharton Neuroscience Initiative (WNI) and global consulting firm Slalom is aiming to find out. By giving EEG
Soccer Lessons
I am a soccer fan. I watch it (mainly on TV) regularly and have my favourite teams. I also take an interest in football management - especially in the ‘management merry-go-round’ where managers are sacked by one club
Its the Service Sector, Stupid!
Productivity growth has been falling or stagnating for the last couple of decades. Everyone seems surprised. (Well pundits, journalists and politicians do!) I'm not! The growth referred to above was mostly in the manufacturing sector
Theb British Productivity Malaise
Though this post refers specifically to the UK, there are lessons for most nations … so don’t turn the page… read on! UK productivity stagnated some time ago and has been bouncing along the bottom
The Future Manager
Technology has changed the role of a manager - by creating a situation where many managers do their own typing, their own diary management, their own meeting arrangements and so on - tasks which were
Do As You Would Be Done By
Holding employees accountable for their behaviour and their work outcomes is important. But it needs to exist in a supportive and trusting culture so that those employees are performing whilst being, and feeling, supported. They need to
Evaluate Potential Tools
How many organisations that adopt one of these tools have done so on the basis of a rigorous, systematic evaluation or assessment? How do they know they have selected an appropriate tool? Firstly, of course, you
Engage Your Employees
There is increasing evidence that high performonce and productivity comes from workers who are engaged with the organisation …. aware of, and preferably sharing, its value set; aware of, and preferably invested in, its longer-term
Plan Yor Planning
We all know that to.be successful in our career, we have to plan ahead, in our job, we have to plan ahead' in our life, we have to plan ahead. Although we know this is
Is Productivity the Only Goal?
We have all seen examples of business leaders focusing exclusively on productivity growth - and failing to develop the business. Elon Musk - and his (‘hard-nosed’) approach to managing Twitter (now ‘X’) is just one
Should You Take a Holiday
Yes, you should. We all need a break from work occasionally to rid ourselves of accumulated stress, to refresh ourselves. But I've learned that there are things you can do to help maintain productivity whilst
Who Are You?
Your personal productivity depends on how well you know yourself. What interests you? What are you good at? What don't you like doing? In the past, when have you performed well - and what were
Should You Take a Vacation?
The answer to the question is obvious. Yes, you should. We all need a break from work occasionally to rid ourselves of accumulated stress, to refresh ourselves. But I've learned that there are things you
Is it OK to use the word ‘productivity’?
At the personal level, many people associate the word ‘productivity’ with working (too) hard, suffering a poor work-life balance and increasing stress. At the organisation level, many people associate the word ‘productivity’ with working harder,
Its not the medium – or even the message
Most of us have done some form of study that involves a section on improving communications. We learn about the importance of making any message appropriate to the target audience - using the right language,
Technology isn’t always helpful
Just imagine you were the CEO of Walmart several years ago. You can see that Amazon is starting to gain a foothold in markets beyond the books and music where it started. You know you
Keeping It (Very) Simple
Sometimes keeping things simple yields the best results. This is particularly true for start-ups and small businesses. Don’t get sucked into complex (and expensive) systems of control or ‘improvement’.Stick to the basics. Set realistic goals (consistent
Do We Have To Make A Choice?
Climate-change activists often insist theirs is the right way. They insist that everything we do (or more often not do) must help ‘save the planet', rather than make us richer or more secure. Yet, in all
Does Time Matter?
Of course it does! However, concentrating on squeeing every last drop of productive output from each day and multi-tasking to get more done can lead to burnout, to stress and anxiety and to a drop
A Lesson in Communication
Doug Conant was the CEO of Campbell Soups in 2001 when the company’s business was at rock bottom due to several organisational issues including a toxic culture. Among the many leadership strategies, Doug adopted, one of
Balance
I have talked previously about the need to balance the pursuit of efficiency with a need for resilience - we need to be able to cope with supply chain, labour or other problems. We have
How Good Are They?
Over the last couple of decades (before the pandemic) lots of middle income countries and middle-performing companies were integrated into global supply chains. Advanced nations and advanced companies had no choice as they needed new