As per the recent CareerBuilder survey, around two hours of efficient work is lost every day. It is quite common that employees don’t work for eight hours a day and spend at least 25% of the time taking breaks, having snacks, talking with colleagues, and doing other things. Due to this, there have been cases where companies miss deadlines and gain less profit. Though we cannot force employees to sit and work, we can make their working time more efficient and effective. We can use team management software, create wellness sessions, team parties, and use other methods as well.
Here are some tried and tested methods that will surely improve your team’s productivity.
Four Proven Ways To Improve Efficiency And Productivity
The job of a leader or project manager is not only assigning projects and tasks to the employees but also taking note of their well-being. Even if we have implemented remote working or WFH, that doesn’t mean we cannot have interactive sessions and help employees in whatever way possible. The below methods have been used by various companies, which have proved to give fruitful results.
1. Assigning Tasks And Setting Milestones
Instead of giving a bulk amount of work at a time, it is better to break the project into small tasks and assign them to the employees. You can use team management software that will help you in keeping proper track of the assignments. Even your team members can track the progress of one another using the team management software. Moreover, you should practice the habit of setting milestones instead of deadlines. Why? That’s because deadlines give stress to the employees, whereas milestones boost their productivity up to a certain level.
You can give a task to an employee and set a milestone of completing at least 25% of the work within a week. By doing so, you are decreasing the load and stating the amount of time they need to complete 1/4th of the project. If you set long deadlines, most employees won’t work until the end date arrives, due to which they might miss the submission date, or the quality would be hampered.
2. Feedbacks
Feedbacks can do wonders for both employees and employers. Set a feedback form or meeting at least once a month, and give proper detailed feedback to the employees. State the good things they did throughout the month and their areas of improvement. On the other hand, ask them to give you feedback based on your leadership qualities, the things you are missing, and how you can help them better.
A proper feedback session can help develop transparent communication in the team and let the members know where to work better. Moreover, do not forget to praise them for their efforts and take note of every single improvement.
3. Improve Meeting Efficiency
If you can do a meeting over a mail, there’s no need to go for a video call. Do not conduct team video meetings unless it’s extremely important. By doing this, you are giving your employees enough time to work rather than being glued to the call.
However, meetings are important, and you need to make them efficient. How? Before starting, state the agenda and goal in the team group and explain the same when the call starts. It would help the employees get a clear idea about what the meeting is going to be about.
Also Read : Six emerging hydropower technology trends
Another thing you need to do is prepare illustrations for the meeting. People tend to pay attention to videos or illustrated presentations instead of a normal audio conversation. Besides, a presentation would help you cover all the basic points without having to speak much. Do not forget to get feedback at the end of the meeting to know whether the team members have understood the topic properly or not.
However, make sure not to conduct a meeting if you find some better alternatives, like, sending project status reports, sharing virtual brainstorming boards, and more.
4. Say ‘No’ To Micromanaging
Micromanaging is one of the major reasons why an employee’s productivity gets low. Instead of managing everything going on in a project, let the employees do their job and take responsibility. It would help them develop proper leadership skills and know whether they are going in the right direction or not. However, that does not mean that you are not going to handle the team. Ask for regular updates, suggest changes if necessary, praise them for creative ideas, and motivate them occasionally, but let them do the project on their own. It can nurture responsibility and accountability among your team members.
Concluding Lines
These were some of the ways using which you can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your team members. Even if remote work is making it difficult to meet the deadline and accomplish tasks, you need to try and boost your members from time to time. You can conduct some home parties, provide coupons and gift cards on festivals, allow leaves if they feel mentally stressed or burned out, and give them a necessary break.
It is always better to let your team members take a nice break after submitting a stressful project and be a bit lenient on them as well. It is important to become a good leader and keep your team members happy rather than straining them with work for a profit. Hope these points will assist you to boost your team’s efficiency and productivity.
Reblog It collaborates closely with clients to develop tailored guest posting strategies that align with their unique goals and target audiences. Their commitment to delivering high-quality, niche-specific content ensures that each guest post not only meets but exceeds the expectations of both clients and the hosting platforms. Connect with us on social media for the latest updates on guest posting trends, outreach strategies, and digital marketing tips. For any types of guest posting services, contact us on reblogit.webmail[at]gmail.com.