Racing to the bottom

The UK languishes at the bottom of most productivity league tables.  We seem to be a low skill, low performing country.  Lots of 'good' jobs have been taken out of the economy and replaced with part-time, low skill employment.

The UK must start to invest in skills - and skill-based employment sectors.  Otherwise it will continue its 'race to the bottom' - lots of jobs but no satisfying employment or careers.

Will someone please tell George Osborne?

Knowing why is really important

India has the highest population of livestock in the world and produces a whopping 147 million metric tonnes of milk, a number also  unsurpassed by any other country. However,  when it comes to productivity, it is way behind most other nations -  Israel’s productivity is 10 times greater.

India is starting to realise what it needs to do - but is not yet sure how to go about it.

This is really important.  Knowing WHY one needs to improve is the key catalyst in determining HOW to improve.  

Unless the will is there, the tools and techniques have no power.

So, expect to see improvements in India's agri-productivity in the next decade.  They are on the starting blocks.

What more do they want?

I saw a piece on the web the other day that suggested that sensible, progressive governments should offer incentives to organisations to improve their productivity.

But organisations surely want to improve their productivity because it reduces their costs, improves their performance and competitiveness and improves their profits.

If this is not enough of an incentive, I worry about the kinds of people running modern businesses.

They may not know HOW to improve their productivity but they should know WHY they need to.

So government support should be in that 'HOW' domain - offering guidance and support ... but more importantly, improving the infrastructure that supports higher productivity and creates potential for performance growth.

Are the figures right?

The UK continues to languish behind the rest of the G7 in terms of its quoted productivity performance - yet my personal experience is that performance of the UK labour force has risen remarkably over the last few years.  This suggests that either I am mistaken (certainly a possibility as mine is only anecdotal evidence) or the official figures are in some way 'wrong'.

Official figures measure GDP per worker or per hour worked - but what happens to outsourced work.  Are those hours worked counted? Is that contribution to GDP counted? Do other countries count figures in the same way? Has anyone carried out any recent research into the compilation of these comparative figures?  How does a shift from manufacturing to services affect the figures?

I think a review/overhaul might be in order.

Concentrate on your own future

The world is getting into another economic mess as it reacts to slowing growth in China.

However, countries in the West should look to their own performance.

I know China's slowdown means there is less demand for Western goods and services ... but this means that now is a good time to concentrate on building the infrastructure needed to underpin higher productivity.

When the upturn comes - as it will - we need to be ready ... with a supply of competitive and innovative goods and services.

...ands who executes?

I talked last week about the need to think about key issues well in advance of them coming to pass. (The example I used was driverless cars saying we, collectively, should be thinking now about the algorithms used to determine the action the car's systems should take in the event of a potential accident - to save the driver, a pedestrian, another vehicle or....

Burt, of course, in other scenarios, thinking is not enough.  Lots of companies, for example, have had great strategies crafted by lots of successful strategic thinking - but they have then failed to execute effectively.

So good thinking must be followed by good execution.  You need a team around you who can do both.  So, look at your team and decide who are the thinkers, who are the executors.  Do you have enough of both - and can you act as the link between them.  Someone has to!

Who thinks for us?

We are in the age of driverless cars. Experts predict that a commercial, driverless car is less than a decade away.

But in the event of a potential accident, who does the car save - the driver, a pedestrian about to be hit, the occupants of another vehicle?

The algorithms built into the car's systems will determine the answer ... but who has devised those algorithms .. and based on whose thinking.

These are issues that should be concerning us now .. not in 5 years time when we are in the car not driving it.