Cites outdated models of leadership, performance focused on speed, control instead of unlocking potential of people, technology
Canadian businesses must rethink their approach to productivity as the federal government places the issue at the top of the national agenda, according to one expert.
That’s because Canada continues to trail other G7 countries in productivity, with 2025 failing to deliver the breakthrough many had hoped for, says Wyle Baoween, CEO and founder of Inclusivity.
“We’re still operating under outdated models of leadership and performance that are focused on speed, control, and efficiency rather than unlocking the full potential of our people, our processes, and our technology,” he says.
“Looking ahead, the Prime Minister’s focus on productivity is a step in the right direction, but we’ll only see real progress if businesses shift their mindset.”
Employee productivity is a critical focus for organizations in 2025, according to a previous report.
Bottlenecks in the system
According to Baoween, low productivity results in bottlenecks, slows innovation, and makes it harder for Canadian businesses to compete. He says the problem often lies not with employees’ effort, but with systems that are not designed to help them succeed.
“Low productivity means poor results, plain and simple. It creates bottlenecks, slows innovation, and makes it harder to compete. Often, it’s not that people aren’t working hard, it’s that the system isn’t designed to help them succeed. If your process requires five approvals to make a decision, that’s a bottleneck and only leadership can address it.”
This also has an impact on workers.
“When organisations chase speed at all costs, it leads to burnout and high turnover,” says Baoween. “People start to feel like cogs in a machine instead of valued contributors and that’s a recipe for mediocrity. At the end of the day, you can’t build a productive organisation on exhausted people.”
Even workplace culture suffers due to low productivity, he says.
“A culture built on fear and control kills creativity. But when people feel safe, trusted, and aligned around shared goals, productivity follows. Culture is not a soft issue. Culture is the foundation of performance.”
Only 25 per cent of workers say companies measure productivity, according to a previous report.
Prime Minister’s focus on productivity
Earlier this year, Prime Minister Mark Carney said that the “government itself must become much more productive by deploying AI at scale, by focusing on results over spending, and by using scarce tax dollars to catalyse multiples of private investment”.
He set out the following priorities:
- Establishing a new economic and security relationship with the United States and strengthening our collaboration with reliable trading partners and allies around the world.
- Building one Canadian economy by removing barriers to interprovincial trade and identifying and expediting nation-building projects that will connect and transform our country.
- Bringing down costs for Canadians and helping them to get ahead.
- Making housing more affordable by unleashing the power of public-private cooperation, catalysing a modern housing industry, and creating new careers in the skilled trades.
- Protecting Canadian sovereignty and keeping Canadians safe by strengthening the Canadian Armed Forces, securing our borders, and reinforcing law enforcement.
- Attracting the best talent in the world to help build our economy, while returning our overall immigration rates to sustainable levels.
- Spending less on government operations so that Canadians can invest more in the people and businesses that will build the strongest economy in the G7.
How to boost productivity in the workplace
With this focus on boosting productivity, Baoween is calling on employers to shift their leadership styles to meet the realities of today.
“The obsession with speed and efficiency is outdated,” he says. “If leaders think productivity means doing more with less, they’re setting their teams up to fail. Real productivity comes from tapping into the full intelligence of your organisation — and that only happens when you create space for people to speak up, be heard, and contribute at all levels.”
He says that some organisations have used their culture to boost productivity, and they have done that by doing the following:
- Shifting from command-and-control to trust-based decision-making
- Rebuilding culture to reduce burnout and boost innovation
- Aligning teams around shared values and purpose
Here’s how to solve Canada’s productivity problem, according to another expert.
