The Productivity Guru

Further to my posts of yesterday, this article appeared in today's Wall Street Journal.  It is about how companies are trying to prepare for hybrid work and how it will effect the company, the employees and their customers in our post-pandemic world.  I think it is important and hence I am re-producing it here.   Thank you to the author Chip Cutter for "Companies Brace for Reality of Hybrid Work" from the Wall Street Journal of May 26, 2021. https://www.wsj.com/articles/if-you-thought-working-from-home-was-messy-here-comes-hybrid-work-11621935000?mod=searchresults_pos1&page=1 Happy Wednesday to you all, Bob 5/26/2021

 For the last 45 years, I have worked in the consulting business helping businesses and organizations improve their productivity and profitability through effective implementation of recommendations.  I am a Certified Productivity Specialist and a Master Productivity Specialist as well, through the Association of Productivity Specialists (a-p-s.org),  As a result of this experience, I believe I have a very good knowledge on productivity issues across a broad range of industries . I was recently reading an article from Bloomberg.com (formerly Business Week Magazine) that suggested that Covid has boosted productivity.  I have also seen articles saying the exact opposite.  So what is it? I have no doubt that productivity has increased over the pandemic.  Productivity is defined as output per hour of work.  Another way to define it is "what the worker gave you (output) over what you gave the worker (pay). The basis for this is people are:          1)  more relaxed and perhaps creative

A recent survey was reported on the US television program, CBS This Morning.  They suggested that 64% of the people they interviewed probably would NOT take a bonus of $30,000 to return to work at their work place.  Most of those interviewed are still apprehensive in retuning to work.  They feel there are still too many open issues. Service businesses like restaurants and hotels, etc., have the guests returning but their staff is not coming back as quick as expected.  But this is based on the USA. Some countries around the world have also just begin to reopen, and some are in the worst throes of the pandemic.  But for the most part, the USA is fully open.  Still there are some cities where masks are required.  All public transportation still requires masks.  And on and on. Almost a year ago, I was beginning to think that the pandemic was starting to abate and we would be returning to work soon.  So I started research on the subject of returning to work.  Well that return to work did no

  Greetings All-- Over the near term you will see blog posts covering a series of articles on two very important topics.  The first relates to "Returning to Work in the Time of Covid-19."  I know we are all tired of this topic but it is important for all of us to understand what needs to happen.  The second will be about "acting like and ensuring you are or are capable of being a CEO for your company and organization".  The articles may be interspersed.   If any one you have any questions please feel free to ask and we'll see if we can handle them on the upcoming topics or on any of the topics I have talked about in the past. Best Regards,  Bob 18/5/21    

Ramadan has just come to an end around the world. Happy Eid Mubarak.    Today (16/5/21) I was reminded of a seminar I participated in back in November, 2018 In Jakarta, Indonesia.  The genius behind this event was Pak Armala Hendra, the man known as “Coach” in Indonesia.  Armala wrote the following piece (the below has been translated from its original Indonesian Bahasa).  I reprise this, not because he mentions me, but because of what it says about mentorship.  Please take this into account and do all you can to create great mentorship’s in your business.  As we return to work from the Covid Pandemic, it is now time to rethink how we approach all aspects of our business and bring light to every corner and crevice of every business around the world.   ARMALA’s original Facebook message— Year 2004 I decided to retreat from the professional world to then build my own business. Accustomed to managing large multinational business with hundreds of employees, then managing small own business