The Essential Quality Your Business Needs

  Is there one? One quality which is more valuable (and therefore more necessary) than others.

Well, that is not a simple question.   All businesses need a variety and a numb er of qualities to go successful through their start-up phase and then perhaps a different (though overlapping) set of qualities for their 'stablisation' phase, their growth phase - and so on

However, through each of these phases, perhaps one specific quality is more valuable than others.  

Then, we get the situation where the external context (the business environment) makes a particular quality more important.

As of now, all businesses are facing threats from technology (and specifically AI).  Ironically the threat posed by AI is even applicable to AI companies themselves. (The biggest threat is faced by those whg don't think they are facing a threat.)

In situations where there is a generic, external threat (and especially where that threat is only partially understood) all businesses need the essential quality of remaining flexible.  This can be called flexibility, agility, resilience or ….. but it is the ability to 'read' the situation and take appropriate action.  This will depend on the market the business is in - but act it must.  

So, all businesses should currently be reading their own situation snd the external factors that are in play (and how these relate to the business and the way it operates).  You should be getting ready to act - even if tyou are not yet quite ready to act.

Is your business agile enough to survive?

Just Work a Bit Harder

  That’s what many of us think we have to do to make ourselves more productive, more effective.

But it’s not true!

I’ve repeated many times in this blog that you are not productive if you are not doing the right things.

The simplest way to illustrate this is if you have a product in your portfolio that is loosing money - for whatever reason.  If you increase the output of that product you lose more money.  Is this a smart thing to do?  Of course not.

The answer is noy complicated. You have to have a sound and secure strategy - designed to meet your long-term goals, achieve your mission.  Then you have to translate that strategy into a series of action plans designed to reach agreed targets along that route to success.  

This is really what’s meant by ‘Work smarter, not harder’.

There are all sorts of intermediary and ancillary issues to think about - staff training, development  and deployment, staff well-being, your own well-being,  looking past current priorities through improved marketing snd productivity innovation ….. I could go on but I guess you get the picture.

Think about why you are running a business (or a department, a machine, a process, etc.  Then think about what success means. Start to plan how to get there.  

Then work hard!

Comment and advice for Andy Burnham

 The UK has a new Primę Minister - allegedly  a charismatic, left-leaning one.  He is looking to change things - lots of things.   

He claims to be supportive of business but we will have to wait and see.  

What I want are policy and actions that will support businesses in increasing their productivity - support for the creation of adaptive, flexible, skilled employees, support for innovation, support for research and  development.

My one worry about what I have heard and read so far is that Andy Burnham is keen to redistribute wealth - from rich individuals to less rich ones, from the state to devolved agencies in the regions,.   There appears to be some clarity about the measures he will take to do so … but he seems less clear about creating more wealth to be part of that redistribution.

Andy …. Think of your task not as creating, and then distributing wealth - but as creating value for all stakeholders … and then think of the support you need to provide to those various stakeholders to maximise their own particular contribution to creating value for all. 

A Gap to be Filled by AI?

 Automation has long been championed as a driver of higher productivity in the manufacturing sector.  It has been very successful in some areas - most often in high volume manufacturing operations  such as automotive and computing.  We are all used to seeing robots carrying out activities such as welding car parts.

However in lower volume manufacturing operations, understandably, there has not been the same level of investment.  There is still a disconnect between the vision of automation and the technically and financially feasible creation of automation tools, flexible enough to cope with smaller batch numbers and run times.

Now there is hope that the addition of AI  and other advanced software technologies can bridge this gap and extend automation into more areas of manufacturing.  This allows intelligent control of flexible operations.  For example, vision systems allow machines to see what is happening, whether queue are forming and to assess the results of an operation such as assembly.  Overall control can be handled by a remote human operator who can monitor the images produced and adjust operations 'on the fly'.

Some technologies of interest are much simpler.  RFID tags are increasingly added to oomponents so they can be identified, located and handled more accurately.  This increase of contextual information enhances the ability of the larger systems and technologies to understand what is happening and make appropriate adjustments.

The net result is faster, smarter, more agile manufacturing systems - and, of course, higher productivity.

Too Hot?

 Are you enjoying the period of hot weather we are in the middle of (in the UK)?  Some people don't but most seem to like it. 

Of course it may depend on your work situation.

If you can work from home in your tee shirt and shorts, you might think the hot weather is a bonus.  If, however, you have to of in to the office in s shirt snd tie (and even jacket) you might have a different idea. 

It might even make you ill or exacerbate a condition you already have.

In some industries, such as agriculture and construction,  there is a clear drop in productivity and/or effectiveness in hot weather - where there is a clear loss of working hours and some jobs cannot be carried out in extreme hear.

And if things are bad in the UK, spare a thought for southern Europe where temperatures are even higher.

And this heatwave is not a one-off incident or freak - it is the direction of travel. Global warming means we are increasingly likely to be exposed to such conditions.  

you need to begin treating it as such.  You need top stop making small, temporary adjustments and plan an infrastructure that supports effective economic activity in the changing climate.

For example, you may have to switch working hours to cooler periods of the day, increase flexible working, improve (preferably passive) cooling of workplaces, and so on.

Such measures may be inconvenient and will obviously incur some cost but it may be preferable to always invoking emergency measures to protect the workforce from excessive heat and keep changing planned activity.

Too Many Fctors

There is a host of factors that determine the productivity of an organisation - operating at a number of different levels.  

For example, the productivity of an organisation that is making products that are not attractive to the intended customer base cannot be high, irrespective of whether the company is efficient.   Then, a company  that is making  products  the customers want has low productivity if it cannot meet the quality requirements of those customers.

So how does a company manage all these factors.  It is one of those things that can be explained simply.  The company needs to adopt a sensible and appropriate strategy and then execute that strategy effectively.

It does sound simple, doesn't it?  Yet, it isn't. The company has to have a kind of 'golden thread' running from the mission and vision through strategy to tactics ,, through critical  success factors and on to systems, processes and operations.

Spinning that thread is the job of the executive team - and is why they get highly paid.

We, productivity consultants and advisers, have to keep looking over their shoulders and providing them with data that addresses key performance indicators and helps their planning and decision-making. We can make good executives better - but we cannot make bad executives into good ones.  

If they don't recognise the need for the 'golden thread' and the need to pay attention to detail at all levels of the organisation, they are possibly beyond hope . They will (hopefully) address some of the many productivity factors, but they will not have the consistency of vision and approach that aligns all parts (and all people) of the oorganisation in pursuit of key success factors and the eventual mission

Is ghis why democracy doesn't work?

 Most western democracies are going through turbulent economic times.  Of course, recently we have had the various Trump troubles - tariffs that seem to change on a whim - and wars and unrest that seem to pop up with increasing speed.  But Western woes predate the current Trump era - and even the COVID era, though that did have a significant, negative impact on most economies.

Oner problem is that we learned about our troubles too late to act.  As the situation turned and worsened, we were still reading 'good' figures and positive results.  

This is because many of the indicators used to judge performance are lagging indicators.  They tell us we're in trouble well after the trouble started.  We (the public) were enjoying low inflation, low interest rates and high property prices whilst national productivity was stalling.

The UK is now in a dangerous position whereby we cannot afford new infrastructure that might help catalyse productivity growth. Business confidence is very low - and when it is  low, businesses do not invest - in new capital equipment, and, even in the training snd development of the workforce.

We are experiencing the pain of low growth - and there is almost certainly more pain to come. 

Meanwhile the political parties are arguing about 'peripheral issues' - without productivity growth we cannot afford to increase our defence budget, increase spending on the NHS,  solve the social care problem and make everyone feel warm and cosy again.

Of course, voters don't vote for pain, so we wouldn't vote for a government even if it had the solutions to our current malaise.

This is why democracy is fundamentally flawed.  It works in good times- but not as well in bad times.

Of course I haven't anything better to offer you! 

Team AI

 In most organisations, outputs come not from the work of individuals but from the work of teams.

In our new AI-powered and supported world, how do we build teams that include chatbots or robots.

To be honest, I don't know - and I suspect that very few others do.

Like people involved in ream-building I do have some ideas  - and some experiments I would like to try … but the technology - snd the way it is currently being applied -  is too new to be sure of anything.  I do think one has to go back to the basics of work and process design - and build tasks and operations that can benefit from AI.  As ever, one key factor will be gelling disparate technologies and software elements to link and work with each other.

Of course, one can use AI to help in the design of the process and associated systems - and one would bet a fool not to do so  but as I referred to last week, it is important to apply real, human intelligence to oversee the outputs of that AI.

However, building new AI-integrated processes is likely to be a much more fruitful route to success than simply using AI as 'sticking plaster' on current processes.

Not Necessarily Better

Those who have little experience of using AI tools, expect that, if they did, they would become more efficient, more productive and, in effect, smarter (or at least they would appear smarter to others).  Yet how often do you see others that have become all of these things.  Are playwrights producing better (?) plays; are  doctors making better diagnoses and issuing more effective prescriptions; are architects making better buildings?

Perhaps some are … but there is no obvious revolution of outputs and outcomes following the use of AI.  

This does not mean that AI is useless or ineffective.  It can help with tasks, with workflow, with efficiency … but we must not expect too much.   A lot of experience suggests that the 'I' of AI is perhaps too strong a word - much of what AI produces is not very intelligent - and even where it is, it is because the users are intelligent, analytical and capable of giving the right prompts or asking the right questions.

So, by all means, carry on using your AI tools and services.  They will get better over time and become more effective . But don't expect too mush.  Moderate your expectations. Don't believe the hype.  And continue to hire intelligent staff and develop their skills. 

Intelligent people using AI is the most likely route to success.

Are You Ready for AI?

Lots of people, and organisations, are looking to AI to give them a productivity boost.

Of course it might do so by improving the speed,  accuracy or value of specific processes or transactions.

However, those of you who read this blog regularly will know that I often warn about using any technology to speed up what you are doing - if you  are doing the wrong things.  There is little point if you have processes that lose you money, in increasing the rate at which you complete those processes and lose the money.

So, those organisations that benefit from adopting AI will be those that already have efficient and effective systems and processes in place, based on 'good' data.

If you are not sure this applies to you… pause, reflect, check, improve and ensure you do meet this requirement before using AI to help you.

Use your own intelligence before adding the artificial kind. 

Get Ready for the Future

The exhortation above is not meant for my 'normal' readers (assuming some of you are normal).  Nor is it for business leaders and msajor employers.   It is directedf at the politicians who face some big choices and decisions over the next few years.

We have heard a lot over the last 20 years about the threat of automation to jobs (especially manual jobs).  Now we have the added threat of artificial intelligence (AI) which poses a similar risk to a much larger range of jobs.

If there are no jobs, there is no income tax…so how do governments fund the range of services they will still have to provide.

Of course there are other ways of providing incomes (universal basic wage, anyone?) and of raising taxes but where is the great debate that should be helping to form views on the various options.

If we do nothing, we will be left with a few (or perhaps a few hundred) 'tech bros' with vast wealth and the vast majority on (or in )the bread line.

I am of an age where this has little direct relevance to me but I am concerned for my grandchild - and the kind of world he is inheriting.

So some on guys (and gals).  Start the discussion. Make it open and clear, and start to build a legal and regulatory framework fit for this strange, new world (and when I say 'strange', I mean 'different').

The time to do this is NOW.

Try Harder

 Many years ago when at business school, I studied a case study of Avis (the car rental company) and how they had grown rapidly to boom Number 2 in the  business.The key to their success seemed to have between their willingness to give a degree of freedom to customer-facing staff to make decisions and take actions that would pleases, or delight, those customers.   AVIS' repeat business went up - as did their profits. Then even celebrated the act that they were number 2 and not number 1 by adopting the slogan "We try harder" implying that this was because they were., as yet, 'only' number 2.

Such a decision (to grant staff freedom to please customers) obviously depends on the calibre of those staff and the training they receive - but it also depends on the culture of the organisation and he 'ability' of seniors executives to trust their employees to 'do the right thing'

So, take a look at your organisation and the various customer-facing transactions (including those involving internal customers).  Think about the 'freedoms' that might be granted and how they might increase customer satisfaction levels. (By all means also take hard-nosed look at the risks involved if those freedoms were misused.)

 Then look at your staff and assess how ready they might be to accept responsibility for using those freedoms wisely.

If none of this look likely to give positive results, think about, and think through, any changes that might change that.

Start to trust.  It will save you worry, stress and constant monitoring.  Everybody wins

Your AI might Lie

 We've seen reports that AI systems can 'hallucinate' at times …. they throw up information which they have generated rather than reported, and sometimes the generation is a little strange.

Now it may not surprise you to lean that AI can also lie - tell you things that can be proven to be untrue.

One problem is that some of the AI chatbots are designed to keep you engaged and in doing this, they provide you with information that they believe will interest and/or excite you.  If this is less than true, the chatbot doesn't really care - it has done its job of maintaining your engagement.

Perhaps a worse problem is that unscrupulous actors (and there are plenty of those around on the web) might 'seed' a chatbot with specific false information during its 'learning period' when it is scouring the web to gather information and make links..  The chatbot reports the false information to you in good faith (if a chatbot van be in good faith) and you believe it because your normally reliable chatbot has provided the information and you have no reason to doubt its veracity 

This is not a reason to stop using AI/chatbots orbto distrust what they tell you - but it is a reason to think about what you are being told and to run it through your own 'credibility filter.'

It a bit like when calculators first became widely available. People would do complex arithmetic and fails to notice they had made an error in 'say' putting the decimal point of an input figure in the wrong place.The resulting answer was correct - in terms of processing the figures input correctly - but would give a false answer .  This would possibly be recognised by someone who knew the context of the data but not by someone who did not.

So keep your brain engaged when using AI to help you - and keep your 'spurious answer detectors' active at all timed.  If you are doing complex work, do it slowly enough to input data correctly and to filter outputs.

Look for solutions, forget the excuses

Too many people, when asked about their performance - or lack of it - settle back on a range of excuses.  

"I don't have the right tools or equipment"

"The stuff I get from my colleagues needs correcting before I can make progress"

I get distracted by interruptions from others"

I can't control all the variables that affect my work"

Often, these can be valid reasons for less than optimal performance…. BUT…

Performing well is about doing the best you can in the circumstances you find yourself in.  You only have the skills you have acquired, the team members assigned to you, the environment in which you exist.  

People who are resilient make progress, not excuses!

They don't procrastinate; they don't double-handle; they don't wait for things to improve; they don't wait for something to happen.  They do whatever they can to move things forward.  

Of course, they may raise issues with their supervisors or managers … but they don't let this st op them from going forward.

So, what can we do to make our employees work in this positive way?

Well, the biggest single factor is possibly the alignment of individual and organisational values and targets.  If workers can understand the values behind the organisation's mission and strategy, and can see how these values 'chime'; with their personal values, they know what to do in a given situation and they are eager to help move the organisation forward.  

So, make sure you are clear in your own mind as to what your values are; make sure those values are communicated throughout the organisation; and make sure all decisions and actions taken are inspired and informed by those values.  

Don't write a strategy or plan and then' dress it up' to look as though it reflects shared values.

The approach should be …

"Because we believe this, we will do this."