Am I Wasting My Time?

By |2024-01-04T11:17:09+00:00January 6th, 2024|

There are quite a few blogs offering advice on personal productivity - how to handle complex ToDo lists, how to delegate tasks, how to prioritise, how to concentrate on important tasks, and so on. Such blogs - and other media offering similar advice - have been operating  for years, yet it seems as though there are

Happy New Year

By |2024-01-02T11:03:20+00:00January 1st, 2024|

Each year we say to friends, family and colleagues, "Happy New Year" - either as the 1st January rolls around or the first time we see them in the new year. What we are saying is "Good luck", merely wishing them that fate serves them kindly during the year.  Neither we, nor they, have any

Soccer Lessons

By |2023-12-23T11:57:43+00:00December 23rd, 2023|

It is obvious that good soccer coaches or mangers earn the respect of their players and create a ‘playing system’ and an environment (or culture) in which players want to perform for their colleagues, club and coach. Poor managers do exactly the opposite of these things.  They lack the respect of players (known as ‘losing the

Getting Engaged

By |2023-12-11T15:53:19+00:00December 16th, 2023|

HR professionals have been trying for years to discover  how to improve employee engagement and productivity, A collaboration between Wharton Neuroscience Initiative (WNI) and global consulting firm Slalom is aiming to find out. By giving EEG headsets to over 650 volunteer Slalom employees and studying the recordings during their workdays, the researcers were able to draw some interesting

Soccer Lessons

By |2023-12-07T11:02:17+00:00December 16th, 2023|

I  am a soccer fan.  I watch it (mainly on TV) regularly and have my favourite teams.  I also take an interest in football management - especially in the ‘management merry-go-round’ where managers are sacked by one club and then employed by another.   Over the last 20 or 30 years in the UK soccer world, there has been

Its the Service Sector, Stupid!

By |2023-12-02T16:42:30+00:00December 9th, 2023|

Productivity growth has been falling or stagnating for the last couple of decades. Everyone seems surprised.  (Well pundits, journalists and politicians do!) I'm not! The growth referred to above was mostly in the manufacturing sector - where productivity growth is relatively easy to accomplish ... especially with the help of new technologies. But most developed nations

Theb British Productivity Malaise

By |2023-12-02T10:18:54+00:00December 2nd, 2023|

Though this post refers specifically to the UK, there are lessons for most nations … so don’t turn the page… read on! UK productivity stagnated some time ago and has been bouncing along the bottom of most nationality comparison charts for too long. Serval people far more important than me have tried to explain the

The Future Manager

By |2023-11-24T16:01:18+00:00November 25th, 2023|

Technology has changed the role of a manager - by creating a situation where many managers do their own typing, their own diary management, their own meeting arrangements and so on - tasks which were once most often undertaken by a secretary or P.A. Now we have the much-vaunted rise of AI, which might take

Do As You Would Be Done By

By |2023-11-14T16:20:57+00:00November 18th, 2023|

Holding employees accountable for their behaviour and their work outcomes is important.  But it needs to exist in a supportive and trusting culture so that those employees are performing whilst being, and feeling, supported.  They need to be engaged with the organisation and its mission and feel that, when appropriate, their voice is heard. If he/she expects

Evaluate Potential Tools

By |2023-11-10T11:25:52+00:00November 11th, 2023|

How many organisations that adopt one of these tools have done so on the basis of a rigorous, systematic evaluation or assessment?  How do they know they have selected an appropriate tool? Firstly, of course, you should be clear about the problem you are trying to solve or the opportunity you are trying to seize.  You should

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