Leading from the .....

You will have often heard a phrase like ... Success is a marathon, not a sprint ... indicating that the activity in hand must be addressed with focus and concentration over the longer- term.

Well, Productivity is certainly a marathon.

You need a good start, then a keen ongoing focus and finally a strong finish.

Tools and techniques are very useful but attitude and execution are what really matter. Productivity improvement is best achieved within a supportive culture that expects, receives and values contributions from across and throughout the organisation.

Productivity leadership is not about having the best ideas but about creating that culture in which all ideas for improvement are considered, evaluated and rewarded.

Switching off destroys the culture; the focus must be continual. Leaders must continually relate to, and report on, Productivity ... reinforcing the culture, maintaining the focus and demonstrating their commitment.

Effective leaders lead from the front and the back ... and all points in between.

Bw good to your employees - and your planet

Many organisations make some attempt to treat employees well - with recognition and reward systems, flexible approaches to leave, healthcare and so on.  The trouble with such 'benefits' is that they quickly get absorbed into 'the expected' rather than being regarded as an 'extra'.

If you want something to have a longer-term effect on employee well-being - and even more importantly, on employee productivity  - then you need to select' benefits' that have a more direct effect on employee performance.

For example, why not institute a transport system to get employees to work - saving them the hassle and stress of doing it for themselves.  You can make it part of your environmental strategy since any form of shared transport is almost certain to be less resource intensive than lots of cars arriving with one individual. 

But more importantly, your employees should arrive fresher, less-stressed and ready to go.  They should be more productive, more content, more engaged with the organisation.

So you can treat your employees well, help  the planet and raise productivity.  Win-win-win. What's not to like?

Am I droning on?

Certainly in the UK, drones have had a bad press recently - with the disruption caused at London's Gatwick airport.

However, the sensible ones among us (and I do - perhaps rather arrogantly - include myself in that category) know that throughout history, technologies have been used for good and bad purposes.

Drones are also used to improve agricultural productivity by giving farmers a view of their fields and crops they could not afford to get in other ways.  They are used in  law enforcement and in the military, by sports broadcasters, and so on.

So, don't blame the drones: they are just pieces of technology.  Blame their operators.

But remember, if the 'bad' users (or their impact on society) outnumber the 'good', technology cannot be uninvented. Once it is 'out there', it stays out there - even if made illegal.

So, society must get used to drones - and their misuse. Be prepared to deal with mischievous or criminal drone use - it is not going to go away.

And, of course, continue to apply the technology to society's advantage. Make the beneficial impact outweigh the harmful.

Go, drones! 

Lucky us!

My father, who unfortunately died early at the age of only 54, was, like me, a technophile.

I often say on seeing or using some new piece of technology .. “My dad would have been amazed by this”.

Of course it’s not only technology that has changed since he was around. The would is a different place in many ways and he would have been surprised at many of them.

I was reflecting on this the other day and thought about what might have surprised him the most. Certainly the internet/web he would have loved ... but in the end I settled on Ted talks; the fact that so much knowledge/learning is available at your fingertips - and for free - with some of the World’ greatest minds available in your living room - is truly astonishing.

We are such a lucky generation!

Dock the Tail

The top one per cent of UK firms grew on average by eight per cent each year between 2004 and 2014, while the lower 99 per cent experienced annual productivity growth of less than one per cent over the same period. This is the long tail of UJK business productivity which has to be shortened if national productivity is to rise significantly.

But how do we cut this tail. 

Well, many of these 'tail companies' are small businesses.

The UK government, like most governments, often expresses its commitment to, and support for, small businesses. But they throw these businesses small 'bones' of support or comfort occasionally; they rarely construct, much less execute, a coherent  and sustained programme of support.

Small businesses rarely ask for much - a favourable tax regime, an absence of bureaucracy and access to finance are their most common requests. Government responds with more regulation and legislation - because that is the business of government.

Governments often seems to want to stifle productivity development. Over the last decade, many have been supporting 'ailing businesses', creating 'zombie' firms that should have gone to the wall.

All they need to do is to create an environment in which well-run firms can thrive and prosper. Then they need to get out of the way and let those firms get on with it.  Some won't make it - but that is the law of the (business) jungle.  It will see the tail reduce. 

Job done!

One thing at once

We are all under pressure to multitask - to deal with emails, messages and reminders whilst also doing our 'real job'.

Even when not under this avalanche of inputs, many of us choose to listen to music as we work. We eat lunch at our desks as we work.

Students update their facebook pages (and more) whilst they listen to lectures

All this means our productivity is increasing, right?

Wrong!

For most of us it means our performance dips.

A recent research study shows students who multitasked on their laptops during lectures scored consistently lower in tests (by about 17%) than their non-multitasking peers.

We seem to have difficulty balancing priorities among all the tasks - dealing with trivial rather than important issues because they require less concentration and thus fit well in a multitasking scenario.

But failing to concentrate on, and effectively deal with,  the important items  on your agenda is not a recipe for success.

Stop working

On a recent business class flight, the guy next to me got out his laptop and worked on if for most of the flight. I ate the meal, had a drink, snoozed a little and did a crossword. 

Who was the most productive?

Well of course, he would claim he was. He got some work done.

But that is like people who confuse productivity with production. Doing more is not necessarily being more productive.

In my relaxed time onboard, I was not doing nothing.  I was contemplating, thinking and reflecting. I went into meetings later that week much better prepared and I am convinced the decisions I took that week were ‘better’.

We get so little time to consider and reflect, it is worth taking the time to stop and do so when you can. In the broader sense, you might get less done ... but your productivity will increase.