“Team productivity is like a fire. You can’t make it burn, but you can light it and fan the flames.”
I read an article a few days ago about how despite good economic growth since the recession, Britain still struggles to get more out of each hour worked. So in the light of today’s 2015 Budget, Osborne is hoping he can get improved hourly output. I am very interested to see the plans he proposes to address workplace productivity!
The “productivity puzzle” as it’s being termed, got me thinking: ever noticed how two people can be radically different in their level of productivity. One person can produce two or three times the results in the same time frame. But even if you and your team are highly productive, there’s always room for improvement. Here are my 5 Top Tips on how to make that happen:-
1.Clear priorities
Productivity is not about completing all of your tasks. It’s about completing your most important ones!
A critical skill for everyone on your team to develop is PRIORTISATION.
Making sure that everyone on the team is focused on their most important tasks first and actively procrastinate any tasks that are less important.
In nearly any situation, 20% of the effort will bring 80% of the results. If your team can focus on the activities that get you closest to your goals, you’ll get there a lot faster. Often those are the hardest activities and the ones people want to postpone. Don’t!
2.Track activity time
This is a controversial one for some, but if you think about it, it makes intuitive sense.
If you want to impose something, you firstly need to measure it. How do you measure productivity?
One way is that you can record the exact time spent on each activity in your team and find out exactly how long it takes to complete individual tasks.
Almost every company records their financial flows – where their money is earned and spent. Most factories measure the output of assembly workers. However it’s not general practice to measure where knowledge workers spend their time. Some companies do have this as standard practice – for example at IBM, they measure with accuracy where each person spends every minute of the day.
3.Plan your day/week
Every day/week set out exactly what your team needs to accomplish – clarify your expectations.
Without this, your people will simply get caught up on ‘busy-ness’ – doing whatever they think is best, not necessarily the most important!
Parkinson’s Law: Work expands to fill the time available for its completion!
So make sure everyone has their own goals and plan that they are committed to accomplishing.
It’s best to do this at the end of the day/week before so each team member can arrive and ‘hit the ground running’ with a clear idea of what has to be done.
4. Focus, focus, focus
It’s human nature for your team to get excited about new projects and let the older ones slide a little.
But it’s tough to get things done that way.
Don’t let that sexy new project get in the way of older ones, if you can help it.
As a team leader, it’s your job to protect your people from ‘new project-itis’
In the long run, you will get it all done, only faster!
5.Let them make decisions
Once you’ve removed all the obstacles from your team, there’s still one more – YOU need to get out of their way!
Your team members shouldn’t need to come to (or through) you for every matter! If they do, then you are the bottleneck in the system.
If you don’t trust your team to make decisions, then what do you trust them to do?!
You’ll know you have lit the productivity flame of your team when they’re self-sufficient. Ironically, many companies reward leaders that control and micro-manage their teams, instead of those that build self-led teams. Which you do you think produces better results, as well as the future leaders of the company?
Want to read more of the Top Tips?
Visit the Creativedge ‘Top 10 Tips’ mobile App available for iPhone and Android smartphones:-
Appstore – https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/top-10-tips/id796349890?mt=8
Google Play – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.elixsoft.creativedge
