An overriding priority

Government has confirmed an overriding priority to resolve the causes and identify solutions to prevent recurrence of a decade of no growth in productivity as this is vital to the future prosperity of the nation.

The Forum believes that our sector exists to distil knowledge, share ideas and help its clients convert insights into action. In our opinion, a well-managed sector has a societal duty not to restrict itself to narrow technical services when client management would benefit from our world-class management, leadership & training expertise.

Mobilising the productivity army

In the October 2018 Be the Business newsletter, CEO Tony Danker wrote: “Some of the key elements of building a movement in the future will include mobilising the ‘productivity army’ of advisors and intermediaries to reach a greater number of SMEs in particular; ensuring firm-level productivity sits at the heart of local industrial strategies; and fostering these networks of large and small firms.” Tony has advised us that the Forum is ‘key to the next phase’ of his important work.

Forum framework

The Forum has developed a framework of eight routes to address poor productivity. These routes are: advice from experts; AI/ML; judgement; engagement; capability; competence; a culture of innovation; and a culture tracking system. Our framework is an extension of the core model in ‘Prediction Machines’, an excellent new book by Agrawal, Gans and Goldfarb of the University of Toronto.

Read an article on why productivity is almost everything

Campaign initiatives

Productivity initiatives organised by the Forum at no cost to Government were recently described by Andy Haldane, Chief Economist of the Bank of England and Chair of the Industrial Strategy Council, as ‘very important’:

• Organising an annual Productivity Summit
• Showcasing leading edge expertise through Management Excellence Awards
• Helping university researchers whose projects address topics relevant to the sector
• Treating professional firm leadership as a hidden asset of the UK economy
• Giving greater attention to expertise in employee engagement
• Enhancing client skills through firms providing free training courses
• Enhancing deployment of AI technologies
• Appointing advisers as NEDs at corporates to enhance productivity
• Enhancing liaison with Government officials around productivity issues
• Encouraging the media to comment positively on the sector’s contribution to productivity
• Bringing together local leaders from every sector to share tips

Actions for local leaders and managers

Plan: Develop a plan to promote your firm’s leadership, management & training expertise to clients.

Strategy: Emphasise the increased commercial value and sustainability of ‘diamond’ compared with ‘bow-tie’ client relationships. Discourage your firm from promoting itself as a collection of sole traders rather than as a well-managed business.

Evidence: Enter the Managing Partners' Forum Awards for an independent assessment of your contribution to the business, and to showcase your leadership, management & training expertise for the benefit of your clients.

Community: Join a local meeting to share ideas with clients.