Productivity at work is among the top concerns of project managers. No matter how long you’ve been managing projects, you’d probably like to increase your team’s efficiency and productivity. We all want to deliver results for our clients and bosses, and we want each person on our team to realize his or her potential.
Productivity is a common measure of how well we’re doing in each of those areas and relates to how efficiently a team is operating. Like most areas of leadership, productivity increases when an improvement on your team begins with your improvement as an individual.
We’ll look at six strategic ways to help your team be more productive in the workplace, followed by an additional seven simple but effective ways to increase your personal productivity at work.
Before jumping to the ways, let’s get into the depth of something that will be of actual use for us. To understand productivity and efficiency better, how about we get their definitions straight, shall we?
Efficiency signifies a level of performance that describes a process that uses the lowest amount of inputs to create the greatest amount of outputs.
On the other hand, productivity is the average measure of the efficiency in production. It can be expressed as the ratio of the outputs to the inputs used in the production process.
Here are the 5 ways to empower your teams to be more productive:
1. Give your team members ownership
The best leaders in the business understand the power of ownership. Giving ownership to the team members means nothing but letting them take their own decisions and making them accountable for their work. It shows that you’ve entrusted them and their capabilities to handle a specific job.
2. Know your team members strengths and weaknesses
Every human being has some talents and hidden gifts that can be put into good use. Thus, it becomes the duty of a manager or a team lead to discover those talents and keep them in mind while allocating tasks to them. Knowing their skill-set is the backbone of producing a productive team.Knowing the fact that team members are making the best use of their knowledge, expertise and talents, they look forward to contributing at the workplace.
3. Incorporate some team building exercises
Team productivity depends big time upon the camaraderie between the team members. If the team members get along with each other, are aware about the strengths and weaknesses, the workplace automatically becomes a happier place. If the team members are happy from within, the team productivity and efficiency will automatically shoot up.
When different people are working within a team, there is a likelihood that not everyone will like each other. To beat the animosity between the team members, you can incorporate some team building exercises. Not only will it add some fun element but will also wash away any grudges or miscommunications between the team members.
4. Good work environment
The work environment and infrastructure are essential contributors in improving team efficiency and productivity. According to a recent study, the physical environment greatly affects how employees feel, think and perform at the workplace.
Due to this, many organizations are paying attention while designing their office interiors. They make sure to incorporate bright lighting, comfortable furniture layout and a touch of nature with the help of plants and flowers. Besides the physical setting, the environment within the office premises also impacts the team productivity. Dominating boss, condescending employees and office politics can bring down the overall productivity and efficiency in an organization.
5. Give each other feedback
Last but the most important on the list is to introduce a feedback process in a team. There is no hope of boosting employee efficiency if they don’t know they are being inefficient in the first place. This is why performance reviews and constructive feedback are essential in boosting team productivity. This encourages the culture of open dialogue that will make future collaborations easier than before.
Conclusion
By putting in place easy and effective strategies, you can maximize your team’s productivity. If you want to set up strategies that are customized to your employees and how they work. The best way to do so is to ask them. Have conversations with your employees about how the workplace can be more productive for them and see how their needs and personal strategies for productivity can be accommodated within everyday work.