I hit a milestone last week by publishing the 100th effectiveness blog post. So, lets summarise what I have learned from 100 blog posts. Here are five of the highlights: First of all, the most important thing. Effectiveness is not the same as efficiency or productivity. The Difference Between Effectiveness, Efficiency…
In a previous blog we looked at Why Targets Are Often Not Effective This was hopefully interesting stuff but more important is how to set effective targets. If you read the management books they will tell you that targets should be SMART, standing for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant & Time Based.…
Targets without an objective can never be effective. A target a something that, if achieved moves us toward our objective. If we do not know what the objective is then we cannot produce targets. The problem is that many organisations give out targets without making the objective clear and that’s…
Time management is the ultimate example of maximisation of a limiting factor (much more on limiting factors in later blogs). We all have the same 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day and 365 or 366 days in a year. No matter…
In order to understand why managers are not effective but leaders are, we need to understand the difference. Management is about productivity and efficiency. Leadership is about effectiveness. The problem for managers is that the problems of efficiency and productivity have been solved. We have all the techniques, Lean, Prince,…
Work From Home or WFH as it has become known is one of the few positives to come from the pandemic, but is it effective? There is no doubt that in many cases WFH is very efficient and productive but because extremes are rarely a good idea and humans have…
When a child starts to walk or draws a picture good parents reward their efforts with praise and encouragement. The same applies when they speak their first words or sing their first song. More praise is heaped upon. This despite the fact that when taking their first steps they will…
Many of you will have heard of the Lean technique of 5 S. A method by which you can bring organisation to chaos and increase productivity and efficiency both in the office and the factory. If you are unacquainted with the technique here is a brief summary below and for…
Many people assess how hard they work by referring to the number of hours they work. Working the maximum number of hours or being the first into the office and the last to leave is, for some a macho badge of honour. In reality, in many cases, these are the…
For years supply chains have been getting increasingly complex. An entire industry has grown up around them consisting of supply chain consultants, universities producing masters students and doctorates of supply chain strategy and more supply chain theories from business schools than you can shake a stick at. This is probably…