The UK's productivity performance - as reported by the Office for National Statistics and used in international performance tables- has been woeful recently.  I know I have argued in the past that the measurement scheme seems inherently flawed but that is irrelevant to today's argument. There seems a consensus emerging that the figures are so

Some universities and colleges in the US are now being funded according to a productivity-based formula. Does this make sense? What is the productivity of a university? how is it measured?  Number of degrees per $1,000 of investment? Get it wrong - and universities will play the measurement game - making the figures move in

At a recent Institute of Management Services event in the UK, I was lucky to share a platform with Prof. Colin Coulson-Thomas - -a an expert in corporate transformation. His views (thankfully) overlapped with, and complemented, mine. My 'executive takeaway' of his presentation is that: In high performing organisations, rarely are key business processes carried

Productivity doesn't just happen - it has to be designed in to the business, supporting the overall strategic vision and plan and underpinned by the establishment of key metrics. So, you need a plan.  What are you going to change?  What are you going to investigate? What do toy NEED to change?  Where are your

In 1940, one farmer supplied about 11 people with food for the year. Changes over time -especially in technology - mean that today the average farmer in the United States supplies 155 people with food for the year. How many industries can match that kind of productivity growth? But history is not important. A more

'Thingy' is a word used in the UK by many people to represent something whose name they cannot recall - a 'whatdyacallit', a 'thingymajig'.  All cultures and languages have such words. I use it here because it reminds me of the 'next big thing' (or should that be next big thingy)? This - according to

Has the open plan office had its day? When they were first introduced, they were seen as being facilitators of communication, interaction and cooperation - bringing disparate groups together. Now when I see them I think of them as being facilitators of noise and distraction. It was always the case anyway that some employees found

Fairly recently, the UK government issued a draft Industrial Strategy.  Any discussion on this seems to have been drowned out by the Brexit rhetoric.  Yet it is too important to ignore. UK productivity is low - wages are low - living standards are low. We need a kick up the backside, to shock us into

Last week we talked about productivity levels - and the conundrum about unemployment and wage levels. I suggested, as I have done several times lately, that we might need to reconsider how we measure productivity - since the measure used to compare nations uses labour productivity. But the growth of robots and other automation devices

Most of the old economic certainties have gone. For many years, the 'rule' was the as unemployment levels dropped, wages would rise (to entice workers away from others to your organisation).  Since the great 2008 financial crisis, this has not proved true.  Unemployment has dropped to the point where the UK is close to full