Raúl Gorrín The Entrepreneur-humanist

Productivityand Efficiency

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jueves, 17 de diciembre de 2015

Raúl Gorrín: Where will you find the most productive workers?

By Raúl Gorrín. Even when people think they're buckling down, studies show the average North American office worker wastes over a third of the day. If an employee works an eight hour day then at best — a worker is productive about five of those hours. Worker pay is the most expensive line item in the budget for most businesses, which means billions of dollars are going to waste.

Workers in the US put in more hours than nearly everyone except for the Koreans. You would think that the Koreans would have highly productive workers but the opposite is true. That country ranks near the bottom when it comes to hourly productivity. How well does the average North American worker rank on hourly productivity? Not too bad. We come in third. However it is interesting to note who comes in second place. It is the country that most in America makes fun of. We call them lazy. They cut down their work week and still they are more productive than us. That country is France. This is the country that shortened it work week and workers enjoy a more leisurely life- still they are more productive than the Americans.

This is something business first learned a long time ago. In the 19th century, when organized labor first compelled factory owners to limit workdays to 10 (and then eight) hours, management was surprised to discover that output actually increased – and that expensive mistakes and accidents decreased. Researchers have found that overwork (and its accompanying stress and exhaustion) can make all of these things more difficult. In sum, the story of overwork is literally a story of diminishing returns: keep overworking, and you’ll progressively work more stupidly on tasks that are increasingly meaningless.

Our brains aren’t wired to concentrate intensely for eight hours straight. They get tired! Our minds work in cycles of activity and downtime designed to keep us alert and responsive to our surroundings. But harnessing those cycles to promote productivity proves challenging. So as we work a longer day we become less productive and more likely to make mistakes.

Perhaps we should take a look at the Danes, who work the fewest hours of any nationality, but consistently top global rankings of happiness (and aren't doing half bad economically either). "Here, if you can't get your work done in the standard 37 hours a week," one Dane told a Washington Post reporter looking into this data, "you're seen as inefficient." Studies have shown the diminishing returns of consistently putting in more than 40 hours a week. When it comes to productivity, it might be wiser economically and socially (and hey, maybe even spiritually) if we all worked a bit less--say, 30 hours a week.By Raúl Gorrin.

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miércoles, 16 de diciembre de 2015

Raúl Gorrín: If you want to be productive and successful then planning is very important.

By Raúl Gorrín. Being productive can often mean avoiding doing the things that make you non-productive. There is a funny but true cartoon I read where there was a meeting of managers and one manager brings up a concern, “Right we need an urgent response to our productivity problems….” After considering the concern of their companies lack of productivity one of the other mangers makes a comment, “Why don’t I think about getting together with a few people and drawing up some preliminary draft proposals for a possible strategy framework where we could think about sitting down and talking….”.

Sometimes real productivity is just lacking because its workers just do not do their job. If you want to be productive and successful then planning is very important. It is essential. However the planning has no value is we do not actually do the job. Margaret Thatcher said it best, Plan your work for today, and everyday, then work your plan.”. Napoleon Hill said “Plan your work and work your plan.” Every plan must be a call to action. For that plan and that action to be productive you need to break up your plan into steps and then each step should have a way to evaluate it. When I was a child my parents taught me my first lessons in how to be productive in life. My mom would tell me that “ I should never put off tomorrow that I can do today.”. My dad would respond almost agitated, ‘Don’t start something if you are not going to do it right.’. So your plan and action must have steps where you evaluate your progress and make sure your going in the right direction.

You must give every step your full energy. You never want to do a half job or not be fully into it. If you do not believe in the plan then speak up and make changes to it. But if you want true productivity you need to give it your all. Jim Elliot said, “Wherever you are, be all there.”. There is a concept that we must use our emotions to be more productive. Make sure that you believe in what you are doing. Make sure that you believe what you are doing is the correct thing to do. If something is important to you then you will find a way to achieve your goals , otherwise you will find excuses and accomplish little.

Planning essential. We all heard the expression that if fail to plan, then you plan to fail. But at some time the planning has to progress into action. Walt Disney said, “The way to get started , is to quit talking and begin doing.”. Bruce Lee said that “Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do.”. Somehow, I see the great ones in history that produce so many great changes believed in the spirit of the words of Bruce Lee such as Martin Luther King. Mr King knew of the inequality of the black people, he was willing to bring it to the world’s attention. But if Mr King only knew of the problem and had the will but he did not apply his beliefs of peaceful demonstrations and he took action and he produced results that changed America forever.By Raúl Gorrín.

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sábado, 12 de diciembre de 2015

Raúl Antonio Gorrín: Productivity is the result of a commitment to excellence

By Raúl Gorrín. “Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.” This quote was from Paul J Meyer. Paul started off as an insurance agent and by the time he was just twenty five years old, he was the highest paid insurance agent in the country. By the time he was twenty seven he was already a self made millionaire. Now this was back in 1960. What were his secrets? How did Paul Meyer become so successful so young. Throughout his life he started 176 companies and gave away over sixty four million dollars in charity.

He and Ken Blanchard wrote a book - "Know, Can, Do". When you are striving to be productive, your first step is to attain the knowledge. Attain whatever education that you must to be the best at what you have chosen to do. “Knowledge applied is productivity.” This is a quote from Peter Drucker. It is not enough to just have school knowledge, you must apply that knowledge and put in the time and effort to study your customers needs and wants. You have to put in a focused effort into an intelligent plan that will create excellence.

Paul Meyer was finding out that even after intelligent planning and all the proper time and effort that important information was being forgotten or missed. He was also finding out that key information that was explained to customers were being forgotten. Paul at this time was running a consulting company and was mentoring insurance agents. Paul had gotten a taste of that through mentoring his insurance agents. At first, he gave them self-improvement books to read. But he soon discovered they did not retain the material just from reading it. So he condensed the book's premise and read it to them six times. That seemed to truly get the message across and he later learned a Harvard University study found that someone needs to hear a message six times before internalizing it. Anthony Robbins said, “ Repetition is the mother of skill and the father of action.”

With our customers we may have to tell them the information in several different ways so that we can be repetitive without sounding repetitive. One way may be verbally by telling them and then maybe showing them , then maybe demonstrating . Whatever it takes to make our passed on information to be internalized in our employees and customers.

Excellence is of most importance. Walt Disney was famous for taking care and effort to create an excellent product and as a result his brand is known to be excellent. “Do what you do well, so that they will want to see it again.” , that is a quote from Walt Disney. So if you improve quality of your brand, service or product then as a result you will automatically improve production. Raúl Gorrín.

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