BUSINESS ENGLISH WORD OF THE DAY: PRODUCTIVITY

BUSINESS ENGLISH WORD OF THE DAY: PRODUCTIVITY

Describe your productivity levels during the period of confinement in 2020. Did they increase, decrease or remain relatively the same?

French translation: productivité

Hello Darlings! Happy Monday!

It has been a few days since I have had the inclination or wherewhithal to update my blog. I guess you could say that my productivity levels have diminished a little bit and that I am experiencing a little bit of mental burnout. I find this period of confinement and all the bad news very mentally draining. Sure, I am fighting tooth and nail to stay motivated but there comes a time when  all this bad news definitely starts to have a negative impact on my ability to focus and get things done. I have become less efficient and there are measurably fewer visible fruits of my labor the longer this situation persists.

What about you? Are you feeling at all impacted by the confinement? Do  you think you have become less efficient because of it? Are you finding that you are producing less than you normally would? And are your lower productivity levels directly correlated to the confinement? Is telecomuting a drag? Tell the truth. Because sometimes we are just lazy and our productivity comes in waves and sometimes we feel it and sometimes we don't and it has nothing really to do with being confined or anything other than just us. So tell the truth. If you are not feeling as productive as you want to feel, if your output is measurably less, what is the real reason? What is the real cause? Because correlation is not necessarily causation.

What is productivity by definition?

. A measure of the efficiency of a person, machine, factory, system, etc., in converting inputs into useful outputs. Productivity is computed by dividing average output per period by the total costs incurred or resources (capital, energy, material, personnel) consumed in that period. from businessdictionary.com

So not only people's productivity is measured by also machines, factories, systems, etc. You can, for example, measure the productivity of a robot, if your company is into robotics and automation technology to create a more efficient workplace. 

How do you maximize your productivity at work, by the way? Are there any specific strategies you use? Do you drink a lot of coffee, for example? Work out during the middle of the day at the company gym? Have regular brainstorming sessions with colleagues? Study with gurus? How do you stay fertile mentally and keep producing and keep increasing your output? And by output, obviously I mean things that are worthwhile and good and helpful and useful and valuable. Because I think it is possible to have negative productivity. It is possible to also produce things which are harmful and bad. Do you agree with my assessment or do you think productivity by definition means something "positive"?

If you are in a position of leadership, how do you help your subordinates to maximise their positive productivity?

Today's Deals

Note: During this time, I am offering strictly telephone conversation courses to respect the order of President Emmanuel Macron who has issued a directive as you know that the French population must remain under curfew for the next 15 days. If you would like to start or continue with English conversation lessons therefore, it will be strictly by telephone. I look forward to speaking with you, que même. I have noticed that I now have visitors from countries other than France including Germany, United Arab Emirites, Belgium, Spain and Oman. You are also welcomed to take English conversation with me if you like :) 

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Business English Paris is a sister site of Jeannie LaCroix. Please visit our sister site where you can find curated products for busy professionals at www.jeannielacroix.com. Thank you in advance for your support.

BUSINESS ENGLISH WORDS OF THE DAY: EXIT STRATEGY

BUSINESS ENGLISH WORD OF THE DAY: EXIT STRATEGY

Do your political leaders have an exit strategy out of the coronavirus confinement & lockdown quagmire?

French translation, stratégie de sortie

Hello Darlings! Happy Monday!

I was just looking up the translation of "exit strategy" in French because I have exit strategy on my mind. I was thinking about the coronavirus actually, and I just read this morning an article somewhere, I forgot which one, that a politician in UK said that with masks being mandated in the workplace, the country can begin to think of an exit strategy.

BUSINESS ENGLISH PARIS WORD OF THE DAY: LEADERSHIP

BUSINESS ENGLISH PARIS WORD OF THE DAY IS LEADERSHIP 

Do you consider yourself a good leader with good leaderhsip skills? Or to you prefer to leave the leading to someone else?

French translation is la direction, le leadership

Hello Darlings! Happy Wednesday!

So, today I have chosen the word LEADERSHIP as the word of the day for Business English Paris. How does this word translate in your language?

AMAZON

If we were to have this conversation about leadership, the question I would start out with would be as outlined above: Do you consider yourself a good leader with good leadership skills? How much experience have you had with leadership where you were the one at the helm? Do you like being in a leadership position or do you prefer to leave the leading to someone else?

BUSINESS ENGLISH WORD OF THE DAY: BOTTOM UP

TODAY'S BUSINESS ENGLISH PARIS WORD OF THE DAY IS Bottom  Up.

French translation could be "une approche en profondeur" or "une approche ascendante".


Hello Darlings!

It is 01:31 in the morning and I am up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, working like a dog on the Business English Paris blog. No, I did not work all day and night. Don't worry.  I actually didn't do much during the day yesterday because the confinement was getting to me and I did not feel productive. But later in the afternoon, after a long nap and a long talk with myself, I got a second wind. And since late afternoon, I have been working on this or the other thing, including a new YouTube video for the yesterday's word of the day: UNCONVENTIONAL. If you are ever curious about my videos, you can check my Instagram or Youtube all of which should be displayed in the sidebar, assuming that you have a browser that does not rearrange my blog (which would be very maddening, to be honest.)

So. I chose a crazy word for the day  today at Business English Paris. BOTTOM UP. It is crazy because even in English, it is not a word I use. I am not really an expert on this word. When I think of BOTTOM UP, I think of management styles. You can have either a Bottom up or a Top down management style. What that means is you either have a leadership system where the top management makes all the decisions (top down) or a leadership system where lower level employees as well as upper executives share in the decision-making process of the company (bottom up).

That's about all I know about BOTTOM UP and TOP DOWN.  I did do a quick research, though, and discovered that it pertains to more than just management. These terms can be used in various contexts including investing, design, forecasting, budgeting, economics, finance, and construction.

My question for you is how is your company structured? Is it BOTTOM UP or TOP DOWN? 

If it is BOTTOM UP, then there is a lot of collaboration and communication between departments and sectors in order to make decisions. All employees have a voice and a say in the decision-making process and they often feel valued, and they have a sense of ownership of the outcomes for the company.  In a bottom up company, the managers focus on building morale. Is this the type of company you work for? Can you give specific examples of why you think so?

On the other hand, you may not feel so valued by upper management in your company. You may feel like you have no say in the company's goal setting and macro decision making. Can you talk to me about that? Are high level CEOs the ones to make all the decisions and set the goals for the company? Do they delegate down the ladder to lower level employees? Do they adapt a "Big Picture" approach to decision-making? Do they delegate tasks to lower level employees? Is there a clear hierarchical character to your company where authority figures determine the larger goals of the company and then delegate tasks to the lower level employees?

What group do you belong to in your company? Are you one of the upper level executives or are you one of the lower level employees? Do you think that your company's leadership structure and system is the appropriate one for the company? Why or why not?

Note: During this time, I am offering strictly telephone conversation courses to respect the order of President Emmanuel Macron who has issued a directive as you know that French population must remain under curfew for the next 15 days. If you would like to start or continue with English conversation lessons therefore, it will be strictly by telephone. I look forward to speaking with you, que même.


______________________________________________________________________
Business English Paris is a sister site of Jeannie LaCroix. Please visit our sister site where you can find curated products for busy professionals at www.jeannielacroix.com. Thank you in advance for your support.