Based on the experience of thousands of lectures given, hundreds of texts written and the exchange of information from almost 20 years in the profession, the simplest and most effective productivity tip I can give you is: take better care of yourself. After all, who can “produce” if they don't even feel good or have the real conditions to do so? In other words, those who seek and maintain the conditions to do so are productive, combining willpower, knowledge, well-planned actions and the health to put it all into practice!
If a company or institution wants to be successful, it must first understand that it is made up of people. Even if it is full of machines and automated processes, there are always people operating them. If these people are not at their best, they will never be able to deliver the best possible results. In other words, a company or institution that wants good results needs to ensure that its people - employees, servants, collaborators, staff (or whatever term is used) - have the best working conditions.
In essence, a person performs better when they are well: the better they feel, the better they perform. Well-being and health are concepts that go hand in hand. This means that the most productive people, not only in terms of quantity and quality, but also in terms of time and durability (how long they can maintain good productivity), are those who enjoy the best health. The question then arises: how do we achieve this ideal health?
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health “not merely as the absence of disease, but as the state of perfect physical, mental and social well-being”. I would say that this definition is incomplete, since perfection of these factors is practically impossible for 99% of people, even though we must always strive for the best for ourselves, right? And an important factor is missing: the spiritual one; after all, we are a body commanded by a mind that shapes and obeys the determinations of our spirit. Therefore, those who pay due attention to and achieve or receive the conditions for these three aspects naturally obtain and maintain health and, therefore, productivity: their well-being of body, mind and spirit, all three of which must be really good, since the imbalance of one has a negative impact on the others, damaging the productive whole.
In other words, if your company or institution is “doing well”, you or your managers are probably getting it right with your employees, right? Wrong. I regularly see people who work in companies and institutions with a “predatory” philosophy or behavior (interestingly, I've even given talks in some of them, but the knowledge apparently hasn't been properly applied at a corporate level), where employees are literally sucked dry and exploited to the maximum and, when exhausted or sick, are simply replaced by new employees... Bad news for these companies or institutions: countless recent data and studies show unequivocally that their days are “numbered” for various reasons, but above all for what Augusto Cury rightly says: “the most important thing in a company is its employees”, not least because they are the ones who, through their work, produce and bring results, above all the desired profits, when they manage to work well.
There is a lot of talk about good pay always being one of the most desired factors, a factor that is increasingly losing ground to, for example, quality and comfort at work, with a good organizational climate and more humane treatment, according to recent data and studies. But when “earning well” in financial terms means having to sacrifice your health repeatedly in order to deserve this “earning”, we are faced with a concept of productivity-suicide. Seiti Arata, in the program Productivity Ninja, discusses this concept well, which is unsustainable in the medium and long term, both for the company or institution and for the employee, the latter being the most affected by it and, sometimes, in irreversible ways for his life.
That's why I'd like to reiterate the simple tip at the beginning of this article so that your company or institution can have real and sustainable productivity, which is only possible when it's based on well-being and health: treat your employees well and make sure they have as good a lifestyle as possible. Give them the knowledge and effective conditions to do this and, together with the background and technical-specific training (which is of course also fundamental), your company has everything it takes to “succeed” and achieve ever greater productivity, results and success.
Free of charge, this material can help companies/institutions that want to start this process of valuing their greatest asset: the human, health and well-being of their employees. (always remember: those who feel good produce well and better).
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