What will lead you to higher productivity in 2015? New products, new technologies, new structures? For most organisations, the answer is none of these.  Those that succeed in improving their productivity will do so by doing what they do now a little more effectively and/or efficiently.  Big gains come from lots of small, incremental gains.

I read recently that Coca-Cola has withdrawn its voicemail system from its Atlanta headquarters in an effort to improve productivity.  Callers now get a simple message suggesting they should use another means of contact. Voicemail was originally introduced as an 'added value' service for callers - saving them the need to call again - but

Most people are more effective workers in the morning - when fresh.  As the day goes on, most of us tire.  The problem is that we don't always recognise this - and we take decisions, do important work, hold important meetings when we are not at our best. Does this work for teams and organisations.

Approaching the end of another year is a time for reflection - personal reflection and, if you are brave enough, organisational reflection.  What have you - and your organisation - learned this year that will make you better next year. It might be something about your products, your processes, your customers, your competitors ... or

Labour productivity is all over the place for many Western nations.  It rises, it slows, it plateaus.  It is hard to predict as these countries struggle to climb out of recession.  Productivity fuels economic growth - but then employment and wages catch up and productivity levels off.  Many organisations are spending all their attention on

Clusters have been proved to a useful development tool - bringing together companies - and people - from similar industries/activities - to share knowledge and  experience, and to collaborate.  A similar effect can be created locally by bringing together employees from within the company to discuss problems, issues, projects, developments - sharing perspectives from designers,

This blog is concerned with regional, national and organisational productivity. Rarely do we 'stray into' personal productivity - largely because I think it is more or less irrelevant in terms of raising those other productivities - they are based on the effectiveness and productivity of processes and systems - not individual people,. However, I read

I recently had a day off - by 'off' I mean no fixed appointments. I decided to work from home - but I found I got little done. I found the peace and quiet, the lack of telephone noise, the absence of colleague chatter quite disconcerting.  Is it because I need those things to remind

I was in Italy recently ... and I used public transport quite a bit - trains and buses.  All the journeys I made were on time, and to schedule. Of course, public transport is subsidised in most European countries - by governments as part of the national infrastructure.   This set me thinking about the

At the end of your next day at work ask yourself ... "If we carry on working like this on these tasks, how will we be different - and better - in 5 years time?"  If you cannot answer that, you need to do some things differently - or some additional things. Otherwise nothing is