Teamwork leads to the success of companies in all industries. The main responsibility of the team leader is to help achieve the best results without professional burnout. How to increase team productivity and maintain a healthy atmosphere in the office?
Introduction
In the mid-1930s, a writer named Eddie Morra had nothing but a few unpublished novels. He suffered from alcohol dependence and as a result of this did not develop at all. Eddie's wife, unable to bear such a life with an unsuccessful novelist, decided to leave, and his publisher was going to break the contract with him and leave him without work.
At one point, everything suddenly changed. This happened when Eddie took the “magic pill”, which made him incredibly productive. In one night, he finishes his novel, which is successful. With new pills, Eddie's life is getting better and he is reaching the peak of his career.
You probably recognized the main character of the famous movie Limitless (2011), which was described by Bradley Cooper (if not, I strongly recommend that you watch it!). If you watched this film, you will understand this obsessive thought about how small our daily productivity is.
Unfortunately, there is no magic pill or a specific secret to make you and your team twice as productive as you really are. Nevertheless, motivated teamwork, a bunch of performance tips and a set of special tools to increase productivity will help to significantly improve the situation.
This article contains proven tactics and tips that will help improve your personal productivity and increase the productivity of your team. After reading it, you can understand how to get rid of weaknesses that have a direct impact on performance.
What is team performance?
Team productivity is the amount of work performed by certain people over a designated period of time. Team productivity depends on many different factors. First of all, it is the performance and skills of each member. Secondly, the clarity and attainability of the goals set for the company as a whole and the leader in particular. In addition, the work environment, the level of motivation and communication within the team also affect productivity.
Performance usually describes the amount of work, while efficiency describes the quality. However, productivity is not possible if for a long time there are no tangible results. High productivity is an important part of team work.
It is also important to remember that productivity is a relative measure and should not be considered profitability or revenue.
How to track and measure the performance of your team?
Since team performance is a relative measure, there is no unique formula for calculating it. This is why managers often use the general equation of labor productivity to measure both personal and team productivity.
This formula is very simple and in the end, you don’t know exactly what can be considered an excellent result. The correlation between total production and total input works mainly for companies that produce goods. Therefore, it will not be so useful for enterprises that provide services or IT solutions.
When looking for ways to measure the performance of your team, keep in mind that the overall results for different teams are different. The end result of the team depends on the specifics of your industry and what exactly your team does inside the company. The more exact numbers you collect, the better.
How to measure the performance of different teams?
- Sales team.
The performance of such a team leads to the number of generated sales, signed contracts, activated accounts, etc. Which, in principle, is very obvious. Compare these figures with the number of working hours spent on work, and you can already decide how high the performance of a particular team is.
- Marketing team.
Marketing department performance is more difficult to measure. Brand marketing is a long-term investment compared to sales, where you can see the real numbers. In this case, track the number of potential customers and customers who have been attracted through various marketing channels (social networks, AdWords, newsletters, newsletters, and much more).
- Customer service.
Support group performance can be distinguished as the number of tasks and issues resolved over a given period of time.
Delegation of responsibility
Even if you are a great professional with outstanding abilities, there is only 24 hours in a day.
This means that you cannot do all the work yourself. Do not be afraid to delegate the work to your team. In this way, you will increase your personal productivity, save more time on important tasks and show confidence in your team.
Listen to your employees
Employees who know that they are being listened to, feel 4.6 times more motivated and begin to work more productively. Organize joint and personal meetings with your employees, listen to their ideas, feedback on new improvements or the atmosphere in the office. Although keep in mind that frequent and lengthy meetings can, on the contrary, kill personal and team productivity. So the most important thing is to do everything in moderation.
Creation and strengthening of loyalty
The realization that your work is valued gives you professional fulfillment and motivation, right? And professional self-realization leads to an increase in labor productivity. So do not hesitate to praise your colleagues, celebrate their successes, support and treat them with understanding.
Organization of effective and open communication
Open and systematic communication is very important for successful and productive work. Lack of communication between departments or even within the same team can lead to reduced productivity and financial losses for the company. Make sure that the processes for sharing updates, thoughts and ideas, as well as collaboration within the team work smoothly.
Increasing employee engagement
Highly involved companies show a 17% increase in productivity and a 21% higher return on investment. That is why the most successful companies strive to put employee involvement at the center of their business strategy.
Discover the strengths and weaknesses of your employees
Identification of strong personal and professional qualities in employees will help you compare them with the right tasks. In addition, this will help keep them away from the wrong workflow, defeat low productivity and avoid professional burnout. Get to know your employees and define tasks for them in which they can use their full potential. Thus, you will increase the productivity of team members.
Set achievable goals
Nothing motivates the team more than the realization that every next day you are approaching the ultimate goal. At best, your employees should be aware of both the goals of the company and their personal goals.Long-term business goals should be divided into achievable stages. Otherwise, you run the risk of getting poor team performance caused by the inability to measure the results of hard work.
Provide an opportunity for education and training
Often, even the most hardworking people cannot improve their work due to lack of knowledge. This does not mean that they are unprofessional, just every month new and more complex technologies, products and solutions appear, and their development and use in everyday work can significantly affect team performance. Let your employees learn something new.
Create a positive work environment
It is hard to believe that the working atmosphere can be an obstacle to the development of the company. As it turned out, the atmosphere in the office has a strong impact on productivity. Constant noise, distracting conversations and even rumors negatively affect team performance. If you want to achieve results, try to make the atmosphere in the office be friendly and favorable.
Be a good example
To inspire your employees to work better, you must be a prime example. Help, teach, support and motivate your team. Always show how much you value the work of your team, and the results will not be long in coming. To maintain a high level of team productivity and a healthy atmosphere in the office, it is better to exert pressure on employees, not to criticize them, especially in public, never, under any circumstances, shout at them or show disappointment. In addition, it is not recommended to force people to work overtime if they cannot.