When you’re running a business, you’re responsible for a lot of different people and processes. Simply following your business plan won’t automatically guarantee your success. In order for your business to grow, you need to build and maintain an engaged team. However, grouping different types of people with different temperaments can often lead to miscommunication and can impact workplace productivity.
So, how do you improve efficiency and productivity at the workplace? How can you help your team to better accomplish professional goals? Well, above all you need to understand that improving the efficiency of your team is a continuous and demanding process. Yet, there are (tech) tools and tactics that can help you make everyone on your team more efficient. Here are a few ways to help you improve both the speed and quality of your team’s work.
IMAGE: PEXELS
Plan Well Or Eliminate Meetings
The roles and responsibilities of your team members should be set at the beginning of the week to ensure you finish the week strong. Meetings can be productive, provided that there is a clear agenda, that the right people attend, and that everyone is prepared to contribute to a solution. This means that productive meeting requires good advance planning. Ask yourself (and your team) if you really need that meeting. If it’s an update on a project’s status, could you send out a digital update instead? Instead of sending countless emails between team members, use a calendar to save time on scheduling.
Make sure you meet with your team periodically to exchange ideas on how best to achieve your strategic priorities and improve processes and procedures. Brainstorming among team members is important. These types of sessions/ meetings are great because they bring people together into the creative process, and increase the social nature of the project.
Since attending meetings can disrupt your flow of productivity, eliminate unnecessary meetings. In order to improve your team’s efficiency, try having at least one full day at the office devoted to deep work. This will give everyone more time to focus on the work that matters.
Prioritize Work
When you have a clear understanding of how your work ladders up to company goals and objectives, you can better understand which projects and tasks will have the largest impact. Focus on those pieces of work before you move onto less impactful tasks. Keep everyone on the same page. This will empower individual team members to make decisions that impact the big picture. When you’re working on a project (or specific task), set a realistic deadline for your team members. Don’t try to rush them to finish it earlier. Take everything one step at a time and don’t set yourself up for failure.
Map Out Your Team’s Work Before Beginning
When members of a team know exactly what their specific roles and tasks are, they are going to be more productive, as there won’t be too much room for confusion. Make sure you instruct your people on their responsibilities right off the bat, in order to avoid miscommunication.
Knowing who on your team excels at a particular skill, and finding ways for them to spend time on work they enjoy, can help streamline tasks and projects. Additionally, if you know a person is more excited to work on a specific task, they’ll be more likely to work with a higher degree of quality and complete the task faster. Giving your team work they find personally rewarding or challenging can help everyone to do their best work.
Once you know what needs to be done and who will do it, it’s time to make a plan of action for your team to follow. Make sure each of your team’s projects have a clear plan. This will ensure that realistic timelines are in place for each project milestone. Having a well-thought plan that’s been clearly mapped out from the beginning can eliminate additional “work about work” at a later time. You can use team productivity tool to help you visualize and execute your workload.
Set Communication Expectations
Keep team members informed and updated. Each person should know who is responsible for completing a piece of the puzzle. Secure open communication and coordination among team members. Clearly define the purpose of each communication channel. For immediate answers to questions, use an app like Slack. Having a full insight into what’s underway and what has been completed will make it easier for you to coordinate and save time.
While communication tools can make your team much more efficient, using them inconsistently can actually create more work. If you see a tool’s purpose can be replicated through another channel that brings more benefits to your team, it should be eliminated.
Invest In Your People
Good help is hard to find—and even harder to lose. Investing in your team is an important part of creating an engaged workforce and an effective way of reducing turnover for your business. Moreover, taking an active role in the development of your team demonstrates confidence and concern for the future of the organization.
Team Building Activities
In order for a team to function as a whole, its members need to know each other and get along. Good work relationships between the members of a team result in a smooth workflow and cooperation. Team relationships are best strengthened by organizing team building activities.
You can use an external facilitator for team building and engage your team members in structured activities that are designed to help them coalesce into an effective team. You can also choose more casual activities like a bowling night out together or grill outside of the office. Whatever you choose to have the team do together, activities like this can do wonders for the cohesion of a team.
Training
The better the skills of your employees, the better your productivity is going to be. This is why team members should always receive the appropriate training that would enable them to enhance their skills and to acquire new ones. Where possible send your employees to conferences, training, seminars, and workshops. If cost is a factor, consider enrolling them in online training programs that help them upskill. You have to make short-term investments for long-term gain.
Listen And encourage
When employees feel they aren’t listened to, they lose their motivation. This is going to have a direct impact on their productivity, as they will be less efficient in accomplishing their daily tasks. You have to show your employees you care about them. Receive feedback and do your best to listen to them whenever they have a problem. If they come with ideas, praise them and encourage them to pursue them, as this is going to make them feel useful.
A Place To Grow
Give your team members the opportunity for internal mobility within your organization. Provide them with access to career advancement opportunities and information, such as full-time positions, part-time projects, mentorships and etc. This will give them feelings of significance, community, and value. When you create a culture in which employees can reach their goals and potentials, you boost productivity, morale, and engagement.
If you are interested in even more business-related articles and information from us here at Bit Rebels, then we have a lot to choose from.
IMAGE: PEXELS
COMMENTS