For some people, art plays an important part in their lives. I’m not talking about ‘the arts’ - if I was, that first statement would probable apply to just about everybody - but to the visual arts. What about art in business? Well, art can obviously transform a working environment but it can also stimulate,

One of the keys to high productivity is to organise - and then to schedule - work according to its priority and urgency.  Too often, though, this potential productivity gets sidelined as other facto come into play - meetings get scheduled and key personnel get jacked out of operational processing.  Now,  a new approach is helping restore

When trying to improve productivity, many people start by looking at inputs - trying to reduce costs by saving materials, energy or manpower.  There is nothing wrong with such an approach except that it is an incremental approach. Your are unlikely to save more than 10-15% of costs so productivity can only rise by that

If your organisation expects you to be ‘always on’, always working, always available by telephone or email, they are exhibiting signs of ‘toxic productivity’.  I hate that term for all sorts of reasons but mainly because it has nothing to do with productivity. People who work 24 x 7 (or think they do) are unlikely

When the pandemic hit and the world went into ‘lockdown’,  most companies moved into remote working, using technology to support employees working from home. There were all sorts of claims that productivity improved as a result.  I’m afraid that I was churlish enough to cast doubt on these claims (in this blog) suggesting that the

If you start your online meetings by simply asking a question such as..”You’ve all seen the plan. Any comments?”, your team members will probably look away from their cameras down at their desks (or kitchen tables.).  The energy drains from the meeting before it has really started.   Team members do not know what is being asked

Measuring performance is essential for a number of reasons.   Firstly, as the adage goes … if you can measure it, you can manage it.How do you predict job times if you don’t know the performance level at which your equipment and your people will work. Secondly, if you don’t know performance levels, ho do you

If you are always moaning about the number of meetings you have to attend, then almost certainly you do have too many meetings.  The pandemic - and the forced switch to Zoom and Teams and the like for meetings - has opened up meetings to all. Just because all can attend, it doesn’t mean that all