How operational coaching can beat the productivity crisis

Productivity is a critical issue threatening the future competitiveness of the UK economy. In fact, recent government figures highlighted the biggest gap between the UK and other leading western economies since records began in the early 1990’s.  Alarmingly, the UK lags far behind the US, Germany and France.  This cavity has created leeway for other businesses and nations to exploit the UK’s inefficiencies, putting the UK economy at further risk of decline.

So how did productivity become Britain’s Achilles heel and what can be done to close the ever-widening gap?

One school of thought puts poor management at the heart of the issue.  According to the Financial Times, “there is a strong correlation between highly-engaged and motivated employees and productivity” and “there is an urgent need to train middle management so that they can inspire and coach their teams. Too often they are dealing with pressure from above and below and are not well trained or equipped to cope”.

This view was plunged firmly into the foreground by Chancellor Philip Hammond during the revelations of his Autumn Budget.  The Chancellor challenged British businesses to invest more money in training and development in response to a whopping £84bn loss in productivity, caused by poor performing Managers.  His message was clear.  Industry leaders need to address the performance issues within their organisations to increase productivity and to improve their competitiveness.