Your company’s growth depends on your team’s productivity. Why? Because productive employees successfully complete their tasks. Also, they ensure that companies achieve their goals. So, how can you ensure that your team is productive?
Simply telling them to “increase their productivity” or “improve their performance” will not help them. You need to give them actionable tips and goals for them to be more productive. So, what are these productivity tips that you can offer your team? Read on to learn more below.
1. Set goals for your team
Less productive employees are often those who don’t know their goals. So, to avoid the issue of unproductivity, you need to set clear goals. Clear goals will help your employees to understand their roles at work. Also, it will ensure that they can stay on track and improve their job performance.
So, how do you go about setting goals for your team? The best way to do this is by following the Specific(S), Measurable (M), Attainable (A), Realistic (R) and Time-specific (T) (SMART) strategy. Below is a simple explanation of this;
- Specific: The goals you set should not be vague but specific. Specific goals can help your team complete their work faster.
- Measurable: The goals you set should be quantifiable, so make sure to use specific metrics to measure them.
- Attainable: Your goals should be reasonable, given your team’s skill level. It should be something that they can achieve.
- Realistic: Goals should be realistic and align with the broader objectives of the organization.
- Time-specific: Each goal you set should have a specified time for achieving it. This will help to increase their daily productivity.
Once you set the goals, make sure you regularly check their progress. If you find that one team is struggling, you can readjust their goal or help them to find a solution.
2. Simplify the work environment
In most offices, you can find that too much is going on. This can be incredibly distracting. Why? Because your team members may not be able to focus on such a coworking environment.
The type of work environment you provide is critical to how your team or virtual assistants will be productive. So, how do you solve this issue? The best thing you can do is reduce outside distractions to ensure your team members can easily handle their tasks.
For instance, you can do the following;
- Reduce clutter in the workplace.
- Simplify the office set-up.
- Encourage the use of noise-canceling headphones.
- Have ergonomic chairs.
When you find solutions to common distractors, you can increase your team’s productivity levels.
3. Improve workplace communication
Communication is one of the most essential tools for increasing productivity. 77.3% of workers who use digital communication are more productive. So, it would be best to emphasize clear and open communication in the workplace.
Your team members should be able to tell you about any issues they face. To attain this, your team members should be comfortable around you enough for them to talk to you. Also, you should be available to them,
Make sure you do the following;
- Practice clear and open communication with your team members.
- Keep everyone in the loop
- Show empathy and practice listening
- Use the right communication apps and medium
Note that good communication will help you do the following;
- Build stronger relationships
- Motivate employees
- Display respect
- Have better processes around productivity and work
- Ensure a healthy work culture
4. Prioritize tasks
Not all tasks that you give your team members will be equal. Why? There are some that are critical and those that are not. So, it’s essential that you prioritize your workload and focus on the most time-sensitive and critical tasks.
Focusing on critical tasks first gives you a higher chance of increasing your workplace productivity.
5. Diversify your teams
Diversifying your team is one of the best ways you can use to improve workplace productivity. Companies that employ diversity have a 45 percent average innovation revenue. So you should make sure that your team members have varying;
- Ethnicities
- Genders
- Ages
- Race
- Work experience
You stand a higher chance of boosting your performance if you have diverse team members. Diverse teams are more productive than those which are less diverse. Why? Teams with diverse individuals have different experiences and perspectives from which to draw form.
These different experiences and perspectives will ensure that your team develops more innovative ideas and that they can have better problem-solving skills.
6. Give autonomy to your team members
The trick to encouraging individual productivity in your team is to give the team members autonomy. Make sure you eliminate unimportant tasks and replace them with value-adding ones.
Also, give your team members a chance to make their own decisions. When you do this, you encourage them to be more productive since autonomy motivates employees to perform better.
7. Consolidate the right tools and apps
Too many apps and tools can make it challenging for your team members to be productive. Why? Because they have to look for the right ones constantly. Or switch between different apps and tools.
Most companies use several apps and tools to improve job performance. This could do the opposite. The time used to switch or search for suitable tools and apps can hinder efficiency.
So, how do you solve this issue? The best thing you can do is to do the following;
- Use a SaaS management tool.
- Consolidate the functions of your tools and apps.
- Remove tools or apps that are not frequently used/have functions that another can provide.
For example, an efficient email extractor tool can help streamline your email outreach efforts, saving time and increasing productivity.
8. Rethink daily meetings
Meetings are essential in any workplace. Why? They allow you to share information, make decisions, and solicit ideas. You can’t eliminate them, but you can focus on making them more efficient and effective.
The golden rule for your daily meeting should be to define the purpose of each one clearly. Also, do not spare time for unimportant meetings. Instead, ensure your employees spend every work moment being productive.
Other tips for your daily meetings include the following;
- Send out meeting material beforehand.
- Consider other ways to keep your team members in the loop (like AI assistants).
- Set priorities for the week ahead.
9. Educate your team members about time management
Procrastination is in human nature. And it’s not inherently a bad thing. Why? The time used procrastinating can lead to better decisions and more happiness. However, it would help if you time-boxed your teams’ procrastination when it comes to productivity.
The best way you can do this is by teaching the team about time management strategies, like timeboxing. These strategies will help them to;
- Think about the upcoming work to ensure they are in the right headspace.
- Reduce procrastination.
- Increase productivity.
- Tackle work ahead of time.
So, some of the time management techniques that you can teach your employees to boost their productivity include;
- Set a timer for work and break sessions.
- Use the Pareto principle to encourage your team to spend 20 percent of their time on 80 percent of the allocated work.
- Write down all the work that needs to be done for the day, then break it down into smaller chunks.
- Tackle the hardest work first before procrastination kicks in.
10. Capitalize on productive hours
Research shows that only 50% of employees are productive for more than 5 hours daily. So, it’s essential that you capitalize on these productive hours. When you do this, you increase the amount of work you do in a day.
One thing to note is that personal productivity varies. There are some individuals who work best in the morning and others in the afternoon. So, to ensure you capitalize on the productive hours, do the following;
- Ask each team member when they are most productive.
- Structure important tasks around the productive hours.
- Build focus time into the calendar to be during peak productive hours.
11. Be flexible
Trust that your team members have what it takes to actualize your company’s goals individually. When you enforce rules on how work needs to be done, your team may have reduced productivity. Why? Because your rules may include processes that may/may not be compatible with the assigned work.
So, it would help if you implemented flexibility in the workplace. Let your team determine a work schedule or system of working that is best for them. When you allow flexibility, you will not only improve productivity in the team but encourage your team members to perform better.
12. Focus on employee well-being
Employee well-being can play an essential role in their productivity. When they are unhappy/have burnout, they are less likely to be productive. So, your goal should be to create a work environment that is stress-free and where your team is happy and productive.
But how can you promote employee well-being in the workplace? You can do this by;
- Encouraging your teams to take breaks during the day.
- Provide manageable workload.
- Have your team members focus on workload instead of work hour.
- Review your time-off policies.
- Ask questions to determine areas that require improvement.
Bottom line
Productivity is incredibly vital in the workplace. It is the key to businesses achieving their goals and success. So, it is essential that you encourage your team members to be productive each day. Use the above productivity tips for better outcomes.
