Mind the Gap

By |2023-06-28T06:30:23+00:00July 1st, 2023|

Firms who wish to be fully productive need a workforce that is engaged, motivated and fully skilled. Firms who do not have fully skilled employees are, in effect, giving away capacity..  Firstly, of course, employees who do not have all of the skills they need to carry out their role properly will be slower at completing

Its Productivity Week

By |2023-06-22T14:47:12+00:00June 24th, 2023|

For most (all?) countries, at the moment, that headline could ha de been rewritten as ‘Its Productivity Weak”. Productivity, globally, has been fading as a result of general  economic decline, the COVID pandemic, the war in Ukraine- and the effects on global supply chains. So what should governments do? Well, one tactic employed fairly regularly is

Who Trains Who?

By |2023-06-15T06:52:54+00:00June 17th, 2023|

Those managers and executives who have come through the ranks, maintaining their own diaries, typing their own words and creating their own presentations often find it difficult to adjust when they reach the dizzy heights of having their own secretary - or even an executive assistant. Most secretaries/assistants realise this and, in effect, end up

Is This The Future of Work?

By |2023-06-08T18:31:09+00:00June 10th, 2023|

Is the future of work to be similar to the hybrid forms we have seen emerge from the pandemic - with workers attending the workplace only 2 or 3 days per week (or even less)? There seems to be some kickback from employers who would like workers in their offices more often - but there

What about the Workers?

By |2023-05-31T08:54:16+00:00June 3rd, 2023|

Over the last few decades there has been steady and continual divergence between productivity growth and pay rises,    Analysis of historical data shows that productivity and compensation for ordinary workers grew in near lockstep from the end of World War II through the 1970s. Since then, however, productivity has grown nearly four times faster than

Your Monday morning task

By |2023-05-18T08:54:16+00:00May 27th, 2023|

On Monday morning (or perhaps Sunday evening), ask yourself the following questions : What are the critical issues this week? What do I absolutely have to get done this week? What might come back to bite me if I don’t get it done this week? What does our strategic plan suggests are my priorities? Hopefully

Small can be effective

By |2023-05-10T08:55:26+00:00May 13th, 2023|

In a changing world, business leaders are looking for more training options that provide greater flexibility and variety. They are looking for a mix of formats and delivery options, with a preference for short courses.   industrial certifications, and vocational qualifications. dip-in, dip-out and online learning is seen as being most beneficial by time-poor, resource-constrained small businesses. If

Re-Generation

By |2023-05-04T06:41:51+00:00May 6th, 2023|

In many countries, governments are raising the retirement age to contain pension and welfare costs.   Today’s workers are going to have to work to a ripe, old age.  (Since, generally, people are healthier and fitter than they were 30 or 40 years ago, this is not necessarily a bad thing.) It does mean, however, that, increasingly, organisations

Digital Overload

By |2023-04-26T10:06:14+00:00April 29th, 2023|

We have all experienced sensory overload due to the deluge of emails we receive.  This is even more so for those of us whose organisations have provided us with a range of helpful (?) productivity tools like Google Docs, Slack, Teams, WhatsApp and so on. These were often introduced during the pandemic to enable remote

In Retrospect

By |2023-04-19T09:09:59+00:00April 22nd, 2023|

A new trend is emerging of organisations organising review and retrospection meetings - perhaps every 2 weeks or so to allow employees (collectively) to review what they’ve done, what they’ve achieved, what went well and what didn’t.  The meeting is a safe space in which employees can speak freely and honestly, even critically.  It helps managers identify

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