RBA warns of Australia’s looming productivity problem – but here are six ways you can be more productive

RBA assistant governor Philip Lowe has warned that Australia has a problem – we’ve had it a bit too good in the last few years, and now we’ve become a little lazy.

In a speech to a conference in Sydney yesterday, Lowe said Australia had enjoyed a period during which living standards had increased markedly, despite a sharp falling in productivity growth.

“If we look back over recent years, we see that productivity growth has slowed. Since 2001, output per hour worked has increased at just over 1% per year compared with over 2% per year in the 1990s,” Lowe said.

“Normally, slower rates of productivity growth would lead to slower increases in average living standards. But this has not occurred… The reason for this is that the prices of Australia’s exports have risen relative to the prices of our imports, lifting the purchasing power of Australia’s national income. With the proceeds of a tonne of iron ore we now can buy more LCD TVs and domestic services than we could a decade ago. This has allowed our living standards to increase at a faster pace than if we had to rely on productivity growth alone.”

However, Lowe has warned that this period cannot last forever.

“Looking forward, this situation cannot continue indefinitely. Over the next few years, commodity prices are likely to decline somewhat from their current very high levels and this will put the focus back onto productivity growth and economic reform as the drivers of increasing living standards.”

Of course, no one could accuse Australia’s wonderful entrepreneurs of being lazy. As the Smart50 shows, SMEs are leading the way in terms of innovation, jobs creation and growth.

But no doubt the nation will rely on SMEs to lift the company’s productivity rate, so with this in mind, SmartCompany has found six ways entrepreneurs can boost their productivity.

1. Stop distractions

Andrew May is a productivity expert who has worked with big corporations such as Toyota, small businesses and elite sporting teams. He argues that productivity does not necessarily correspond to hours worked, but rather results from how a person works and the systems they put in place to help them.

May says the common problem that every business faces is dealing with distractions (phone calls, emails, text messages, interruptions from co-workers), which now occur in the western world at the rate of one every four minutes.

“For a lot of people, up to half their day is wasted managing distractions,” he says.

While conscientious business owners like to stay connected to their business at all times, May argues this actually prevents entrepreneurs from getting actual work done.

“You shouldn’t respond to every email as it comes in, you shouldn’t be waiting for the phone to business. If you’ve got to work, have periods offline where you can actually put your head down and work.”

2. Prioritise your time and work when you are most productive

It’s a common scene in offices around the country. Employee arrives at their desk, turns on their computer and spends the first few hours of the day checking and responding to emails. Suddenly, half the day is gone.

May advocates a different approach. When you arrive, don’t turn on the computer, but instead spend 10 or 15 minutes prioritising your day.

“Start your day by thinking about the vision for your business and how your time can be best spent.”

He also points to research showing that a worker’s productivity can be improved by up to 35% if they adjust their workflow to match their circadian rhythms. If you are more productive in the morning, block out time to do “real” work then – and definitely don’t waste time on emails.

3. Run better meetings

There is nothing more unproductive than a badly-run, overly-long meeting. Ed Robins, the sole director of ProFocus, told SmartCompany that the way a company runs its meetings says a lot about its culture. He has a nine point plan for more effective meetings, which is circulated to everyone:

• Is there a business case for this meeting? Does it make sense? Is it a waste of time?
• Circulate the meeting agenda. That includes preparation reading with a good lead time.
• Allocate roles and responsibilities. Who is going to keep time? Take minutes? Keep things on track?
• Manage the time.
• Manage focus. Keep people on track. Stick to the agenda.
• All members have a responsibility to contribute and facilitate consensus. Everyone has role, no matter who they are. Everyone has to help others participate in the meeting.
• Always evaluate content and process. At the end of the meeting, ask whether you achieved what you set out to do. Mark it out of 10.
• Circulate minutes, assignments and whatever else came out of the meeting.
• Be a good role model. For managers, that also means turning up on time.

4. Improve teamwork to boost productivity

Carolyn Creswell, founder of Carman’s Fine Foods, invests heavily in employee engagement and has a number of simple strategies to ensure maximum collaboration. One of the best is also one of the most simple. Every Friday, Creswell’s company pays for a lunch and each staff member is asked two questions:

– How many emails are there in your in-box?
– One a scale of one to 10, how stressed are you?

Where a staff member is struggling, other employees are deployed to help them. If everyone’s inbox is nice and empty, then it’s an early Friday.

5. Beware social media

Serial entrepreneur Fred Schebesta has a simple productivity tip: social media is a real productivity killer.

“Ever noticed how often someone updates their Facebook or Twitter status? This number of updates is inversely proportionate to their profitability. Kill your Facebook account and only read the Twitter updates from your business colleagues when you are waiting for someone or something to happen.

“In actual fact, if you want to be even more ruthless with your time management, kill your Twitter as well. No piece of information is really that important that you won’t eventually find out.”

6. Recharge

May says the importance of breaks on a daily, weekly, monthly and annual basis should not be underestimated. For SMEs, who often say they are just too busy for breaks, he recommends working for a maximum of 90 minutes to two hours before taking a break, and also suggest that mini-breaks of three to four days taken every quarter are essential for recharging and remaining fresh.