Long-time readers know that I am obsessed with productivity, how to increase it, and the factors that have stymied productivity growth in recent decades in countries like the UK.
An unrepresentative sample of one: I find the conclusions for USA & UK roughly accurate - too little to say much. UK does set “stretching targets” with “processes to track performance”. The problem is that the ‘targets’ are unrealistic or ill defined, while the monitoring processes focus on the negative.
I recall one terrible manager: every month he looked to find something to criticize. One month he could not find anything and blustered. I said he looks for things to criticize, never gives credit, and I found it demotivating. He looked blankly.
The best management is where small groups collaborate, encouraging each other and picking up problems early.
Productivity is key, but I wonder if best practice is good practice? The appalling engagement figures - only 15% of employees are engaged world-wide and the UK's lack of productivity versus Europe suggests we've learned very little from over 100 years of management education and over 3,000 books a year on leadership. Dilbert's Management Principles appear to prevail... Looking forward to your series.
An unrepresentative sample of one: I find the conclusions for USA & UK roughly accurate - too little to say much. UK does set “stretching targets” with “processes to track performance”. The problem is that the ‘targets’ are unrealistic or ill defined, while the monitoring processes focus on the negative.
I recall one terrible manager: every month he looked to find something to criticize. One month he could not find anything and blustered. I said he looks for things to criticize, never gives credit, and I found it demotivating. He looked blankly.
The best management is where small groups collaborate, encouraging each other and picking up problems early.
Productivity is key, but I wonder if best practice is good practice? The appalling engagement figures - only 15% of employees are engaged world-wide and the UK's lack of productivity versus Europe suggests we've learned very little from over 100 years of management education and over 3,000 books a year on leadership. Dilbert's Management Principles appear to prevail... Looking forward to your series.
Wrt UK stagnation have you read this?
https://ukfoundations.co/
This is much more macro but it makes some very good points
Yes, it's the BANANA policy: Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anyone.