This summer, in the UK, has been glorious and packed with sport - Wimbledon, Commonwealth Games, European Championships, It got me thinking about how athletes and sports people prepare for a season in which they

When we think about project management, many people naturally think of large-scale projects - building a new motorway (freeway), a new rail line or a new power station are obvious examples. Small projects, however, need

This year, June 20th was World Productivity Day. I only found out about this at the beginning of July.  It had already passed me by - with no impact on me, or, I suspect the rest

There is plenty of advice on how to start your working day - by establishing priorities, by reviewing your To Do list and so on . However, the other end of the day can be

 If you run around all day long, switching from tasks to task, you may end up completing little, achieving less.  You probably need to think more, act less. Plan more, execute more efficiently. This applies

Sorry about returning to the subjects of 4 day working weeks and remote working. But I continue to see claims that both of these increase productivity. Most of these clams seem to arise from surveys

Various companies are experimenting with a 4 day working week.  There seems to be  a general belief ‘in the air’ that productivity will remain the same or even increase. I have expressed my doubts about this in

Leaders, and especially entrepreneurs, are hard-wired to seize opportunities and follow leads. This is only effective, however, when those leads and opportunities help you move forward in your existing strategy towards your agreed mission and

Very few organisations improve productivity  by accident.  They may do so as a ’by-product’ of some other initiative (such as installing new technology or establishing a new workforce development programme) but productivity doesn’t just come along unbidden.

If you hate Monday mornings, you are probably in the wrong job … but so many of you, I know, cannot simply change your job at this time. Perhaps one reason so many people hate

When I was learning about management and productivity, one important exercise was the in-tray exercise where the student is faced with a pile of documents from an in-tray and has to work through the pile

I read quite a lot of studies that suggest that remote working did not and does not, negatively impact productivity. However, I am sceptical. The studies are generally of 2 types. The first set are

In the past, you measured how hard people were working by such things as noting who was at their desk or who spoke up in meetings, and who had extended breaks or too many days

Teamwork is essential in any organisation. Each team must have clear goals and targets and must be capable of working collaboratively to achieve them. Until a couple of years ago,. team building and team development

We hear quite a lot these days about work-life balance.  But how do you know your own balance is wrong? Well, burnout is man obvious sign. If you are exhausted, physically or mentally, you need to

For some time I was a member of the governing Council of a UK professional body.  We had regular meetings about the forward direction and strategy for the organisation, which at its peak had abut 25,000

Some managers think they need to keep an eye on their staff, fearing that, if they don’t, those staff will nor give their maximum contribution. One of the problems is that the staff will know

I talked last week about giving people decent work to do if you want them to be self-motivated. I stand by that but, of course, it’s not the complete solution. Many businesses overload key members

I have said may times in this blog that expecting higher productivity through exhortation is unlikely to be successful. Organisations or nations need systematic processes that address the causes of low productivity - and actions

Many governments Introduce productivity or efficiency drives. They aIm to reduce the size of the state not by cutting services but by cutting the cost of those services. However, few, if any, of those drives

Many businesses (too many) concentrate on efficiency at the expense of customer service.  We have all waited too long on a customer service call or had difficulty talking to a person we want to rectify a

Platforms for digital communication and collaboration (everything from e-mail through Google Docs to Zoom and Teams) can be very useful.   The problem is that when organisations use several of these, individuals can lose focus and