How to Improve Team Productivity

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By Dzhingarov

Enhancing team productivity brings many advantages. In essence, it translates to more work being completed, happier customers, and increased business expansion. But, how do you improve team productivity?

Every day, your team members may have multiple tasks across multiple projects to complete; often these tasks don’t get prioritized appropriately.

Opting out of meetings as the primary way of sharing information may save time and resources; consider sending digital updates or project status reports instead.

1. Create a Culture of Collaboration

Collaborative cultures can significantly boost productivity in multiple ways, from improving communication to helping employees to come up with solutions they could never come up with on their own. But it should be remembered that collaboration should not serve as a replacement for individual efforts in completing work independently.

Team members need a firm grasp on both their individual work processes, and how those processes contribute to the larger goals of their company. This can be accomplished through regular meetings and training sessions that help teams align their individual goals with those of the larger organization.

Also essential in the workplace is encouraging a team-oriented mindset, with teamwork rewarded through financial bonuses or simply encouraging team members to praise one another publicly.

Finally, it is key to remove distractions that impede productive teamwork. These distractions include phone calls and emails from colleagues or business associates, social media notifications from social networks like Facebook or Twitter, and time-wasting meetings or activities. Taking regular short breaks during projects may also help improve productivity by giving team members time to rest their muscles before returning refreshed to their tasks – these simple tactics could make an immense difference in meeting productivity targets or exceeding them in future projects.

2. Set Goals

Team productivity can be an enormously daunting challenge for managers. Coaxing diverse personalities together to work effectively requires skill, tact, and communication skills aplenty.

Setting team goals must be specific enough so each member of the group can relate. Vague goals like “be more productive” may not resonate with everyone and provide no insight into how they should advance themselves.

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Setting SMART goals and giving them deadlines ensures that team members remain focused on the task at hand and avoid becoming distracted or time wasters. Setting these SMART goals helps each member work towards accomplishing the larger team goal on time.

Celebrate each team member’s achievements when they reach milestones on the journey towards the ultimate goal, to boost morale and drive progress toward the shared vision. This can be done during stand-ups or meetings or company-wide events like all-hands meetings and annual gatherings – especially among millennials, who rank employee appreciation among their top factors influencing job satisfaction.

3. Give People Ownership of Projects

Ownership of projects gives employees pride in their work while strengthening team spirit and making them more likely to support the mission and goals of the organization. Furthermore, ownership motivates workers to become more productive and meet deadlines more easily.

To promote ownership, set specific measurable end goals for every project and regularly measure progress toward them. This allows you to identify who is working hard, while those falling behind may require extra support or training.

Tracking productivity can be done using tools like Trello or Asana, but can also be discussed during standing meetings and one-on-ones. Asking employees to share their progress allows them to receive feedback from teammates as well as new perspectives that may offer new ways of increasing productivity.

Prioritize tasks according to various factors, including importance and urgency. This allows teams to stay on track in reaching their goals while having enough flexibility to shift priorities if necessary.

4. Give People Time Off

One effective way to increase team productivity is giving employees time off – including vacation and sick days – but this also means not overworking them, which can lead to burnout and decreased work output. Therefore, it’s essential that team leaders keep an eye on how much time each member of their team spends on work each day with tools like Bordio that allow an instantaneous overview of estimated workload estimates for your team members.

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Your team should also know to take regular breaks, even for small tasks. Doing this will prevent them from becoming overwhelmed and can boost productivity over time. Furthermore, taking frequent breaks helps your team focus on the task at hand without getting distracted by emails or social media notifications.

When it comes to time off, be sure to create a clear policy regarding how often team members can request leave, and whether there are any blackout periods during busy seasons (such as the holidays or summer vacations). Discuss this regularly with your team so everyone is on the same page.

5. Encourage Communication

Team productivity is vital to project completion on time and within budget, as well as increasing the quality of work produced by your team members. Therefore, encouraging communication among your teammates is of great significance in team productivity.

One way of doing this is by creating an open and collaborative work environment, encouraging employees to share ideas and provide feedback. Another approach would be hosting regular team meetings where team members participate actively. You could even try using a suggestion box format to collect input from employees.

Clarifying expectations can also increase productivity. When team members know exactly their responsibilities, they can focus on these tasks without distraction – helping prevent confusion or miscommunication that could otherwise lead to missed deadlines or subpar work.

At the core of it all lies communication; make sure your team feels safe reaching out for help when needed. If an employee feels they cannot discuss a matter with you directly, this could affect the morale and productivity of other team members. You can do this by offering to meet with them or using an instant chat tool that answers their queries quickly.

6. Encourage a Life Outside of Work

Team productivity relies heavily on having a life outside of work. People who feel overextended are more apt to make mistakes, miss deadlines, and generally be less productive overall. Therefore, you should encourage your team to take regular breaks and spend time with friends or hobbies outside the office.

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By giving them the freedom to work in their own way and taking regular breaks, taking frequent breaks can help your team members remain engaged with their work and increase employee satisfaction and productivity. Even simple measures like encouraging them to block distracting websites or limit post-hour use of work tools could increase employee happiness and productivity.

Finally, it’s crucial that your team receives recognition for their hard work. Whether this happens through formal settings such as daily stand-ups or meetings or more casual conversations between individuals on your team, or more informally such as informal one-on-one conversations; showing appreciation can increase motivation to keep performing at high levels. You should consider creating an avenue where team members can share their successes with the rest of the group either via digital tools such as productivity trackers or reporting at weekly team meetings.

7. Make Sure You’re Communicating Effectively

There are various ways you can assess whether your efforts to enhance team productivity are paying off. One is through metrics – if key project completion metrics increase as a result of team efforts. You could also rely on individuals within your team telling you whether their work is getting completed faster and more efficiently; encourage this during standing meetings or one-on-ones and follow up if they indicate increased productivity than usual.

Remind your team members that effective communication goes beyond simply passing information between members. By setting aside time for a conversation about challenges and concerns as well as interests outside the workplace, effective communication enables your team to feel comfortable showing up as themselves while feeling part of a larger effort.

As part of your team building, it is vital to find out their preferred methods of communication. Understanding if they prefer video conferences or texting can help you better meet their needs and create an environment that benefits all team members. In essence, improving team productivity requires creating an open culture focused on well-being that supports team members to become the best versions of themselves.