Many organisations make some attempt to treat employees well - with recognition and reward systems, flexible approaches to leave, healthcare and so on.  The trouble with such 'benefits' is that they quickly get absorbed into 'the expected' rather than being regarded as an 'extra'. If you want something to have a longer-term effect on employee

Certainly in the UK, drones have had a bad press recently - with the disruption caused at London's Gatwick airport. However, the sensible ones among us (and I do - perhaps rather arrogantly - include myself in that category) know that throughout history, technologies have been used for good and bad purposes. Drones are also

My father, who unfortunately died early at the age of only 54, was, like me, a technophile. I often say on seeing or using some new piece of technology .. “My dad would have been amazed by this”. Of course it’s not only technology that has changed since he was around. The would is a

The top one per cent of UK firms grew on average by eight per cent each year between 2004 and 2014, while the lower 99 per cent experienced annual productivity growth of less than one per cent over the same period. This is the long tail of UK business productivity which has to be shortened

We are all under pressure to multitask - to deal with emails, messages and reminders whilst also doing our 'real job' Even when not under this avalanche of inputs, many of us choose to listen to music as we work. We eat lunch at our desks as we work. Students update their facebook pages (and

On a recent business class flight, the guy next to me got out his laptop and worked on if for most of the flight. I ate the meal,  a drink, snoozed a little and did a crossword. Who was the most productive? Well of course, he would claim he was. He got some work done.

I only recently cam across TRIZ - a (Russia-originated) problem solving and creativity guide for 'the rest of us' - those who are not creative by nature.  Part of its 'secret' is that it is built 'on the shoulders of giants' - an analysis of past patents and patent applications from which it draws out

Every week there is commentary in  the US press about the productivity of football (NFL and/or college) teams or individual players. This is not productivity - it is about performance  ... but fails to use an output/input ratio ... the very essence of productivity. Player performance is important - but US sport (or sports reporters)

Do you want an innovative organisation - a creative workforce? If so, think about when you last had an original (or half original) thought. Not recently? Well, if you can't think originally, why and how do you expect your staff to do so? You need to be disciplined about thinking - and about adopting approaches

I have recently been writing assessments for students on productivity-related courses.  This is one of the more difficult exercises in academic life - and, of course, exceedingly important ...both for the quality of the qualification involved  -  and  for the future life of the students. One of the advantages is that it makes you think