An elite selection of Egypt’s corporate decision makers, HR and training managers in the telecommunication and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sectors gathered in the Four Seasons Nile Plaza on December 19 looking to find 21st century solutions to 21st century problems.

Attendees braved post-revolution traffic to attend Leadership Training and Consultancy’s (LTC) presentation of FranklinCovey’s training course ‘5 Choices to Extraordinary Productivity.’

In difficult post-revolution conditions, companies across the board are hesitant to roll out new products, but LTC CEO Hisham Bakry believes the course is needed now more than ever. Following a revolution that was fueled by an army of educated yet unemployed youth, individual productivity needs to be improved if Egypt is to rebuild itself.

“The indicators that show there is a problem with productivity, not only this year but in a normal year, are results, the percentage of absentees,” Bakry explained. “On average, an Egyptian works for half an hour a day which is ridiculous.”

While Egypt has the largest labor pool in the region, it also has one of the lowest productivity rates among Middle East and North African countries. The World Bank and other international organizations warn that this has proven a severe impediment to economic growth. Meanwhile, private sector sources complain that vocational and technical training in Egypt is outdated and inefficient.

But it’s not only Egypt that is facing major challenges in increasing productivity. The 21st century lifestyle and technology has workers around the world struggling to cope, which is why the training course is being simultaneously rolled out in 175 cities worldwide.

“In the last century, we increased productivity a lot,” says Bakry. “In the 21st century, the challenge is greater, because the number of distractions is higher, the number of choices is growing. A lot of things have changed in the last century and it requires a different way of handling it.”

The modern worker is inundated by a flood of emails and texts and distracted by social media, mobile devices, and ringing phones. Technology may be enhancing productivity, but if not managed correctly it falls well short of its true potential and can also drive us crazy.

“Before going through the program I had in the range of 3,000 emails waiting in my inbox to do something with,” recalls Bakry. “Now that doesn’t exceed 300. That just feels better, because it’s more manageable.”

‘5 Choices to Extraordinary Productivity’ is the brainchild of business consultancy firm FranklinCovey, developer of the FranklinCovey Planning System and known for the bestselling title The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey.

As Bakry took the stage at the Four Seasons, he captured the audience’s attention with facts and figures demonstrating the remarkable and perhaps alarming changes that have taken place in the last few decades that largely go unnoticed.

The 20th century has seen a 50-fold increase in the productivity of workers, while job complexity in the 21st century continues to grow exponentially. The modern worker exhibits characteristics usually associated with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), suggested one of the videos screened during the presentation, referring to the problem as a “severe case of modern life.”

‘5 Choices to Extraordinary Productivity’ is geared towards teaching participants to make day-to-day decisions that are focused on their most important outcomes instead of focusing on the “gravel,” unimportant emails for example, that is being constantly thrown at the 21st century worker. The course promises to eliminate activities that distract people from their most important goals.

The program focuses on three areas: decision management, attention management and energy management. We increasingly have to make decisions small and large throughout the day, explains Bakry, from which features to have on our phone to which television channel to watch. Meanwhile, we are distracted by data, communications and entertainment.

“Now we have more things talking to you, emails coming in, phones ringing, smartphones, iPads,” he says. “We have these sorts of distractions that affect your ability to focus on a certain task for long enough to get it done. So the second part is how to focus your attention on what you’re doing. Instead of reacting to technology we need to learn how to manage technology.”

To top it all off we harm our bodies and decrease our energy levels by eating unhealthy, developing bad habits and not knowing how to relax.

“People usually ignore what their brain is telling them,” says Bakry “So what we say is you need to know how the brain works, manage it. You have to understand that you can work with it instead of working against it. We need to know what kind of food we eat, we need to relax, we need to exercise.”

Bakry’s presentation explained how the program aims to help participants organize and harmonize the different roles in their lives. Whether it’s the role of a mother, business executive, tennis player, friend, etcetera, Bakry explains that maximum productivity can be achieved by making separate roles work together and always choosing extraordinary goals for each one.

The program promises to teach participants how to manage each of these areas in order to produce extraordinary results and maximum productivity. It all breaks down into five choices that the participant must commit to: Act on the important, go for extraordinary, schedule the “big rocks” (rather than “gravel”), rule your technology and fuel your fire. “We all have the potential to do extraordinary things,” is the premise on which the strategy is based.

FranklinCovey’s reputation preceded it, and invitees expressed confidence in the program.

“I decide to attend based on the reputation of FranklinCovey,” invitee Farida Lawinda, a human resources specialist, told Business Today. “I’m concerned mainly with the technology part. We feel surrounded or controlled by technology. We need to know where to go, how to manage it. We need to organize the use of technology to develop Egypt and ourselves as individuals.”

Bakry hopes that the benefit of LTC’s services can extend into all areas of society, beyond the corporate world.

During the presentation, LTC unveiled a new initiative Nahdet Misr, Nahdet Sha’ab (The Rise of Egypt, The Rise of the People) to teach effective habits to university students in Egypt. The program will promote The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People which focuses on character-building, decision-making and communication skills. While finding sponsors for the program, LTC has already begun reaching out to universities, starting with Cairo University.

“We can develop the people in the workforce now but we need to look to the future to the new generations,” says Bakry. “We need to teach them how to be effective.”

In order to contribute to rebuilding post-revolution Egypt, LTC is also looking to work with the Egyptian police force, in order that they might serve the public more effectively and gain Egyptians’ trust.

‘5 Choices to Extraordinary Productivity’ is one of a wide variety of training courses and consulting services offered by LTC which Bakry believes are essential during these difficult times.

“Some of them address the issues we’re facing currently,” he says, “things like building trust, things like conversation, how you can hold a cordial conversation and how to have a conversation on a controversial issue but still have a back-and-forth conversation. This is what we feel the market needs right now.”

LTC is a leading Egyptian consultancy and soft skills training provider, with sister companies in Qatar and the UAE. The company provides world renowned training programs with a holistic approach and applicable knowledge that aims to improve every aspect of participants’ lives while boosting business results. LTC serves major firms throughout the Middle East including Microsoft, Vodafone, and Pepsi, and works with a variety of international affiliates, including FranklinCovey, Ken Blanchard, Eagle’s Flight, Acumen Learning, VitalSmarts, Maximum Potential and recently Door.

FranklinCovey is a global leader in effectiveness training, productivity tools, and assessment services for organizations, teams, and individuals. The company focuses on helping clients’ workforce to focus on and execute top business priorities, providing services in business consultancy, human resource management, training and organizational development. FranklinCovey clients include 90% of the Fortune 100, more than 75% of the Fortune 500, thousands of small and mid-size businesses, as well as numerous government entities and educational institutions. bt