Panel Presentations Well Received   

But this is changing as Productivity Alberta helps organizations find ways to do business better. By gathering diverse tools and resources in one convenient portal, Productivity Alberta can help create a tailored productivity plan that is right for your business.

Many of these tools and resources are available at ProductivityAlberta.ca, where organizations can find the most up-to-date information on best-practices and strategies. There are also self-assessment tools to help businesses compare their productivity growth year-over-year, and to help businesses compare themselves to other global benchmarks.

Going beyond the information collected on the website, the staff at Productivity Alberta is ready to help organizations take the often challenging first steps toward building a better, more productive business, says Lori Schmidt, Senior Director of Productivity Alberta. "Many companies that want to improve their productivity, or their competitiveness, have said to us, 'we have no idea where to start,'" says Schmidt. "We want to help by guiding businesses toward the resources that are right for them as they take that next step."

Panelist Lori Schmidt, Senior Director of Productivity Alberta, presenting at the BRAED AGM.

Productivity is...

Schmidt and her staff can relate many stories of businesses and employees that still hold skewed and outdated notions of what it means when a business looks for ways to become more productive.

Cutbacks. Pink slips. Longer hours. Less pay.

Nothing could be further from the truth. "Productivity is not about working people harder, or laying people off. That's a really critical point that needs to be made," says Schmidt. "There are lots of things that can be done within organizations, things that don't necessarily cost a lot or take a lot of time, which can really enhance a company and allow people to work smarter and be more engaged."

It's in the little day-to-day things that Alberta businesses have the greatest opportunity to fine-tune their operations and enhance the bottom line. It's also where Productivity Alberta comes in - to help businesses find these efficiencies and discover the value that was hidden within their operations and people.

Industry leading the charge

Part of the strength of Productivity Alberta is the leadership team guiding it. An advisory committee comprised of industry experts provides its best advice about the services and knowledge that Alberta businesses need. This means Productivity Alberta is guided by advice from company CEOs and presidents who have already benefitted from upping their own productivity.

Productivity Alberta advisor, Paul Verhesen, president of Clark Builders, says that productivity resources exist, but the challenge often comes when businesses want to access them. This, he says, is where Productivity Alberta can help.

"Rather than re-inventing the wheel each time, Productivity Alberta is meant to be an information source to go to, to see what others have done, or what they are doing, or research that they have identified," Verhesen says. "It's really there to help all Alberta businesses."

To find out more about Productivity Alberta, and to see how you measure up, visit www.thinkproductivityalberta.ca