Back to Work

  Politicians in the UK have been groin g on asb out 'growth' for some time now.  All major political parties  have 'growth on their agenda and claim that they are the pretty that can deliver this growth.

Now you and I know that growth - in this context - is really a shorthand for productivity' since any growth must be via productivity gains if it is to be sustainable - especially if, as in the UK the population (and especially the working age population) is declining. Worse still, an increasing portion of the working age population is on benefits wityha rapid growth in those claiming benefit - and not working - due to mental health problems

I believe that this is due to societal change which increasingly medicalises natural parts of the human condition such and anxiety and  worry, People who are worrying about just about anything now 'cannot cope' and must be taken out of to work situations.  

The blame is often laid at the door of the COVID pandemic as if this changed the mental condition off millions of people.  

My own theory ids that we should 'blame' the practice of 'working from home' (WFH).  Many people got used to WFH during the pandemic,.  This. changed working routines completely and gave people lots of little chances for mini-breaks and  distractions  - meaning that those people got used to diverting their attention sway from the actual work often and occasionally for long periods while they did some other non-work related task.  When they returned to work - or sometimes only thought about returning to work - they realised they were returning to a disciplined, supervised situation where they would not have the ability for these distractions and diversions.

The UK government has announced a plan to get young people back to work by creating training opportunities and apprenticeships.  I approve.  This means that those young people that DO want to work may get an opportunity to do so,  Any action that provides opportunities for otherwise excluded individuals is a positive move. However the government has to address the growing welfare bill alongside this.  The productivity problem is a large one and needs tacking from all angles.

Inspiring Others

Leadership is a difficult concept to 'bottle'.  I have studied leadership theory and even contributed a little to it.  Yet I would have trouble boiling the concept down to a couple of sentences - to go in a dictionary, for example.  

This is partly because there are different kinds of leadership - for different types of organisation, for different situations and for different tasks.  This is why transferring leaders from one sector to another does not always work.

However some of the 'softer' elements of leadership are more transferrable.  Take the notion of inspiring others to better contributions and higher performance.  This is something that most leaders, and many of their followers, think is important.

We need people to share the mission and vision, to understand the priorities, to want to maximise  their contribution. We want them to ask themselves everything morning, "What can I do today to help 'move the needle'?; "How can I best help my team?"  They will only do this if they do share the overall mission and they trust the leaders of the organisation to make decisions on the basis of shared values.  If these factors are in play, they will accept that the organisation sometimes has to take difficult decisions

It is the job of the leadership not only to communicate and espouse these values and the mission and vision but to live them - to act in accordance with them in everything they do and to keep employees informed of what is happening - and why.  This creates unifying factors that 'glue' disparate parts of the organisation together with mutual trust and respect

There is a possibly apocryphal, story of JFK being shown round the NASA Cape Canaveral space facility. He came across a janitor sweeping the floor and asked him, "What do you do here?"  The janitor replied, "I help get our astronauts to the moon".

Now that's the attitude you beed to try and create?

Learn vrom other industrial sectors

 It is amazing how so many sectors fail to observe, and adopt (or adapt) successful moves in other sectors.  One of the most successful innovations (and productivity improvement moves) of my lifetime is the introduction of the containerswithin the logistics sector.  We are so used to seeing ships laden with hundreds - or even thousands - of containers that we forget that this was a relatively recent (1950s).innovation 

Before this, materials from ships were unloaded piece by piece and the turnaround for a large cargo ship could have been weeks.  Goods were also much more likely to be damaged by the loading/unloading process and thefts from ports were more common. So, the container solved a number of problems and was adopted across much of the logistics sector to allow for more efficient transfer of goods from one carrier to another - ship to train, for example.

The result was a revolution in global transport (and global trade) with much faster turnaround times and reduced shipping/transport costs.  All because someone had the bright idea to adopt a standard sized container.

Another  important innovation was the development of the pallet for storing/loading/transporting materials - meaning handling equipment and storage facilities could be made to established standard dimensions.

So logistics has some good practice - and important lessons.  How many other sectors can point to such successes.   

For example, the construction sector has been slow - indeed, reluctant - to adopt modular construction techniques. Experiments and small-scale innovations have been tried but there is no large-scale move towards modular components for buildings.

Perhaps there are good reasons for this but I cannot see them.  Surely there are enough common factors among buildings of particular types to allow for a degree of standardisation and the use of pre-fabricated components.

The lesson here is that if you are trying to improve productivity and innovation, you should widen your horizons when looking for ideas and potential improvements.  

Look at your competitors by all means but also look at other industries and sectors.