We can’t be sure what US or Far East business owners would make of Tommy Cooper’s comic genius but when it comes to productivity levels, they certainly know how to outshine most UK businesses.

So, what’s their secret? Quite simply, they know how to get things done and rarely waste time or money on anything that doesn’t improve upon the bottom line.

People like Jack Ma (Alibaba) and Jeff Bezos (Amazon) didn’t become billionaires by chance.

However large or small your business, investing wisely in the right skills, technologies and processes to increase efficiency and boost output makes perfect business sense.

Experience has shown that smart investment accelerates growth and increases profitability. Maybe now’s the time to pull your own rabbit out of the hat!

Do you feel lucky?

Successful entrepreneurs will often say there is an element of luck involved in every business venture.

We’re here to help you turn the odds in your favour with sound advice and focused support. There’s no trickery involved.

At a time when it’s becoming harder to recruit and retain the right staff, many UK businesses are having to look for other ways to raise their productivity levels.

Investing in more efficient plant and processes and smarter technology is proving to be one of the best ways to increase production capability and deliver higher quality products, often at reduced cost.

Increased capacity also gives you the ability to respond more quickly to customer demands.

Carrying out a productivity review will help you identify areas of improvement and where investment would have most impact.

This can include short as well as longer term solutions to enable your business to benefit from any investment from the outset.

The next step is to develop an implementation plan setting out actions, costs, timescales and responsibilities.

You can do this yourself but it’s often helpful to bring in outside facilitation and a fresh perspective.

Don’t just look inwards at your own business, look at what your competitors and other businesses are doing to improve productivity.

And you don’t need to limit yourself to your own sector. There are lots of great ideas out there which you can adapt for your own business.

Get the support you need

There are lots of ways the Growth Hub can help your business be more productive.

A Growth Hub adviser can help you review performance and any improvement opportunities and put together a personalised action plan and support package, drawing on Growth Hub and wider offers – such as:

Our consultancy scheme offers a 40 per cent grant of up to £4,000 towards working with, for example, a lean or other productivity improvement consultant.

You can work one-to-one with one or more of our highly experienced and knowledgeable Growth Hub advisers.

They have expertise across the range of sectors and specialisms, and really understand the challenges of being in business.

Signing up for Cumbria Forum with Lancaster University will enable you to build a support network and gain ideas from other businesses in the cohort.

More widely we can link you into training opportunities for you and your staff and the Family Business Placement Scheme to check out what other businesses are doing.

And our web portal offers access to a wealth of resources including podcasts, videos, training, events, case studies and much more.

Make the most of the support that’s on offer to get your business working harder for you.

For more information, click here, email info@cumbriagrowthhub.co.uk or call 0844 257 8450 to find out how we can help you make your business more profitable.

  • The Growth Hub ERDF project is funded by Lancaster University, Carlisle City Council, South Lakeland District Council, Sellafield Ltd and Cumbria Chamber of Commerce.
    It is a £3,978,336 project which includes £2,326,133 of funding from the European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Fund Growth Programme 2014-2020.