There was an online article published yesterday about a drop in UK productivity (you can see it here: http://ukbusiness-today.co.uk/news/uk-productivity-subdued).
This reminded me of a project I have just recently finished where productivity was at the core of the work carried out.
The team I was working with were all hard working. They were skilled at their jobs, but they had come to live with many inadequacies that robbed them of the high levels of productivity that they were capable of.
I see this time and time again.
Whilst there are many ways to approach this issue, and improve productivity, the simplest method is to work out what you do that doesn't directly help you to get the job done and stop doing it.
If you are a fan of the Lean methodology you will recognise this as the value versus waste balance.
Look for all the tasks that can be removed (by design or decision) and strip away the fat from the process.
Too many times I see teams living with problems because something has been normalised. The status quo is comfortable and known (and usually annoying). Challenging ourselves to get rid of these problems is the heart of continuous improvement.
Sometimes these improvements can't be dealt with immediately; let us not forget them, keep a list and have a 'hit list' of potential improvements.
If your team are tolerating the status quo then you may just find that they are sitting on a mound of opportunity ready for you to tap into.
Giles Johnston
Author of Business Process Re-Engineering
This reminded me of a project I have just recently finished where productivity was at the core of the work carried out.
The team I was working with were all hard working. They were skilled at their jobs, but they had come to live with many inadequacies that robbed them of the high levels of productivity that they were capable of.
I see this time and time again.
Whilst there are many ways to approach this issue, and improve productivity, the simplest method is to work out what you do that doesn't directly help you to get the job done and stop doing it.
If you are a fan of the Lean methodology you will recognise this as the value versus waste balance.
Look for all the tasks that can be removed (by design or decision) and strip away the fat from the process.
Too many times I see teams living with problems because something has been normalised. The status quo is comfortable and known (and usually annoying). Challenging ourselves to get rid of these problems is the heart of continuous improvement.
Sometimes these improvements can't be dealt with immediately; let us not forget them, keep a list and have a 'hit list' of potential improvements.
If your team are tolerating the status quo then you may just find that they are sitting on a mound of opportunity ready for you to tap into.
Giles Johnston
Author of Business Process Re-Engineering
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| Streamlining Processes Kit - a step by step system to help you improve the productivity of your business processes |