Be Warytof Transferring Your Ideas Across Continents

 I have worked extensively in other countries than my own (UK).  I have learned many valuable lessons  - but perhaps the most important is that local solutions (to productivity problems) MUST be informed by local factors, local priorities, local policies.

Take agricultural productivity as an example.   Generally agricultural  productivity (in terms of yield per acre) is much lower than in most other parts of the world - and (perhaps surprisingly) is reducing in many places.

Does this mean we should import agricultural practices from Europe or America where productivity is much higher.

Perhaps but first we need to assess:

• the degree to which a different climate affects productivity (the availability of water to irrigate crops, etc)
• the knowledge and skill levels of farmers
• The reasons for different practices.

Many African farms are very, very small - a lot of them are 1-man small-holdings.  Thought this does not maximise productivity, it does mean that lots of people scrape a living through farming.  If Africa was to mechanise like Western farms, most of these people would lose their livelihood - and a few individuals (probably Westerners) would become rich.

Would this be helpful to the countries involved?

Probably not.  They need to move at their own pace, moving labour from agriculture only when there are other industries to absorb - and benefit from - it.

So, when being a consultant 'expert', be careful about decisions you take. You might improve productivity - but destroy lives

Focus on results

Those of you who read this blog regulalry will not be surprised that I return quite often to the topic of Results -Oriented Targets.

Too many organisations - and managers - want  to focus on Inputs …especially  hours worked.  Yet we know that productivity is the ratio of outputs to inputs - and we increase productivity by increasing outputs or reducing inputs.  

So a focus on inputs can help improve productivity but it can also be taken too far.

 

It is important to  concentrate on the top line (of the productivity ratio) and assess whether staff are making an effective contribution to output measures. This allows managers to stop micro-managing and to start trusting  employees to deliver on objectives and targets .  Employees then become accountable for their efforts and their performance - and they tend to gain higher levels of job satisfaction.

Managers, in turn, must set firm expectations and clear targets within a culture of trust and autonomy. This must be matched with effective communication.

It sounds easy - but it isn't.  The culture is so important - it must permeate all levels of the organisation and be consistent over time. 

So, build the culture and start to focus not on what people do - but on what they achieve.

Don't Fix The Problem

 A lot of people spend a lot of time fixing problems.  Of course, you have to do something about a problem that has occurred - especially if it's one affecting our customers.

Burt the real key to problem-solving is to identify the root cause of the problem and sort that out.  This prevents the problem re-occurring

Many of you will have heard of the 5 Why's approach to solving problems,.  When you have a problem, you ask what has gone wrong.  Then you ask WHY it went wrong. What was the immediate cause of the problem happening? Then you keep working 'backwards' asking WHY until you feel that you have identified the real (or root) cause  This typically takes 5 Whys - hence the name of the approach. It gets you to understand that if this root cause was fixed, the problem would not have occurred.

Sort that out and you have fixed the problem - for good.

You don't have to use the 5 Why's approach (though it is very simple) but you should always aim to understand why a problem occurred and the likelihood of it happening again.

I've often said that I made my career out of asking (awkward) questions.  The 5 Why's approach is just one way of asking those questions.

So, don't (just) fix the problem - fix the cause the problem?

Policy has driven inequality

I have the advantage and disadvantage of being old. I remember what I think were 'better times' (but all old people in most historic eras have felt the same.

When I first worked in industry, unions were strong and fought well for what they saw as a fair share of the results of productivity gains made by their companies.  Strong unions did manage to keep the pay divide (between the worst and best paid employees) under control - and they did this in an age when productivity rose constantly (largely as a result of technology improvements and innovations).

Many said that the unions were too strong and so political priorities were for a time focused on reducing the power of unions.  This, again for a time, improved the economy but - whether as a direct result or not - did start the widening of the pay gap.  This has widened continually over the years as self -and mutually -serving remuneration committees secured vast increases in pay for senior executives whilst those further down the food chain received only modest increases.

This seemed to be acceptable for a while . Only the unions occasionally complained - but they by now had too little power to do anything about it.

A few policy decisions have attempted to ameliorate the situation (minimum wage, equal pay, and so on) but industry bosses have so much power, they can safely navigate around these little problems.  Their pay - even for those in the public sector, in hospitals and universities - has continued to rise steadily. They have bonus schemes which seem to have little to do with long-term success snd can sit smugly even when the fortunes of their company start to wane.

The politicians of the 'new right' form alliances with the great industry leaders and we enter a spiral of mutual interest' making the problem worse.

I have written before how I expect AI to make things worse (in the medium to longer-term) so the cavalry are not coming anytime soon.

Well, as I said at the start, I am old.  This not my problem, my fight. I hope younger generations can address these problems - but I an not sorry I won't be around for the fight.