Can politicians learn?

By |2020-09-04T04:14:32+00:00July 30th, 2016|

Some countries are much more productive than others. One would assume that this gives the less productive countries lots of scope to learn what works and what doesn't - and boost their own productivity ... but this doesn't seem to be the case. This suggests that either those countries are not trying to learn the

Trumped

By |2020-09-04T04:14:54+00:00July 23rd, 2016|

As i write this, Donald Trump has just accepted the nomination as Republican candidate for the US presidency. Now Trump is certainly a controversial figure and i am not going to give my  view on his suitability to be president - if for no other reason that, here from the U K, making any judgement

Scaling Up

By |2020-09-04T04:17:00+00:00July 16th, 2016|

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI)together with Lloyds Banking Group, the ScaleUp Institute & Aston Business School, has launched a new report, Lifting the Trophy, profiling scale-up insights into raising productivity within firms. In 2013, 4% of firms contributed 17% to total UK productivity Between 2012 – 2015, over 18,500 businesses rapidly scaled-up their turnover

Friday Freedom

By |2020-09-04T04:17:43+00:00July 9th, 2016|

Many people are not at their most productive on Friday afternoons. They procrastinate, prolong and prevaricate - picking issues up on Monday when they are (hopefully) refreshed and revitalised. So, why not use this fact to your advantage. Give your staff Friday freedom. Not the freedom to take time off - but the freedom to

It is not Goodbye

By |2020-03-19T22:44:37+00:00July 2nd, 2016|

The UK public has voted to leave the EU.  There are numerous reasons given - but they don't matter anymore ... except inso far as the EU learns what the public don't like about the EU and attempts to reform itself. What matters for the UK is what happens now to the EU economy -

Are investors the problem?

By |2020-03-19T22:44:37+00:00June 25th, 2016|

Over the last 5 years - in fact since the great recession hit - many companies seem to have concentrated on short term gains - and have rewarded their CEOs with generous bonuses  for producing them.   This is in response to a real or imagined investor need for quick results and dividends - to

Ask your employees.

By |2020-09-04T04:18:28+00:00June 18th, 2016|

Does your boss enhance, or detract from, your productivity? If you ask this question of employees, you might expect them to answer 'enhance' - but they rarely do. Too many people see their boss as 'interfering' or 'meddling', confusing rather than directing them. Does this say something about the employees - and their perceptions versus

A new reality?

By |2020-03-19T22:44:37+00:00June 11th, 2016|

I 've written quite a few times in the last year about low productivity figures - across all developed nations.  I've even offered advice on occasions about what might be done to improve the figures - as have better men - and certainly better thinkers - than me. But the figures stubbornly refuse to rise.

Correlation? Causation?

By |2020-09-04T04:18:58+00:00June 4th, 2016|

Two recent sets of figures from the USA raise a question of 'connectivity'/  Labour productivity refuses to rise - and investment in plant and equipment has declined over the last 10 years.  These can probably be correlated but is there a causal relationship? Well, I can't prove anything but let's just say that labour productivity

Work with the new reality

By |2020-09-04T04:19:19+00:00May 28th, 2016|

Most developed countries have experienced lower rates of productivity development since the great recession - and nobody seems to know why. However, it does seem as though these low growth rates might be with us for some time. For any one country, this means that the key is to simply have a higher growth rate

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