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6 Ways to Skyrocket Your Team’s Productivity
Do you know what you need to do to skyrocket your team’s productivity and keep them inspired to do their best work? Keep reading to learn about six steps you can take right now.
As the team leader, you influence the performance of your team. To get things moving in the right direction, sustained motivation will be essential. Unfortunately, staying motivated can be tricky. There will come times when they just won’t feel inspired or work well together.
How will you ensure that your team achieves optimal results on a regular basis? Use these six strategies to move your team toward peak performance all year round.
How to Skyrocket Your Team’s Productivity
1. Set Clear and Attainable Goals
Without goals, your team will have no direction. Without clear goals, they may have a path to follow, but it will probably be crooked. Set your team up for success and ensure that they know exactly what they’re striving for.
- What milestones should they be reaching each month or quarter?
- Are those goals clear, specific, and realistically attainable?
- Are goals documented and easily accessible so that team members can refer to and refresh their memories from time to time?
Discuss the short- and long-term milestones they need to attain as well as deadlines they must meet.
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2. Refine Team Workflow
Each member on your team has skills that make them an integral part of the group. They must be able to work with each other and use their strengths to produce the results you’re looking for. That said, it’s important for them to have a clear understanding of the team’s workflow and the part they play.
Take a look at your team’s process of “doing things” and ensure that it’s the most efficient. Streamline the workflow and remove any tasks that are redundant or no longer needed. This will allow your team to deliver big results consistently and effectively.
3. Provide Training
So, yes, you know that each individual on your team is there for a reason — they have the right skillset and attitude to get the job done. But, they’ll still need to keep those skills fresh and gain new ones, so be sure to provide training and the resources they need to work at their best.
Training doesn’t have to mean sitting in a physical classroom. There are other ways you can develop your team.
- Learn from each other. Allow team members to shadow more seasoned employees or work for a day in a related department.
- Short, target training. If they need step-by-step instruction, consider microlearning sessions (e.g., 3-4 minute content-rich videos, short podcasts) with ample time to practice, ask questions, and/or demonstrate what they’ve learned.
- Small group sessions. Don’t forget the immense value that small group training opportunities can provide.
Something else to keep in mind — training can involve experimenting and trying new things. Giving team members new or different responsibilities can stretch their capabilities.
Above all, try to keep learning experiences interactive, engaging, and entertaining. If they’re boring, your team will check out mentally and most likely not retain anything you’ve shared with them.
4. Create a Clear Communication Plan
How often will you communicate with each other? How often will you check in and deliver feedback? Is there a communication chain in place for business emergencies that come up? Who’s the point of contact for specific questions or situations? How should team members share concerns?
These are just some of the aspects you’ll need to include in your communication plan. But, don’t get caught in the communication trap. Communicating too often (as well as micromanaging) can be very disruptive and have a negative impact on your team’s productivity.
- Do you really need to meet every week?
- Does everyone — including virtual team members — need to be present?
- Can the meeting be shortened (e.g., 20 minutes instead of 60)?
- Could quick walking meetings take the place of longer sit-down sessions?
Repetitive, endless meetings not only sap time, but they also drain everyone’s energy — energy that can be put to better use. Besides, the more time they spend in meetings, the less time they spend focusing on your business goals.
Repetitive, endless meetings not only sap time, but they also drain everyone’s energy — energy that can be put to better use.
5. Use Tech Tools to Foster Collaboration
To work like a well-oiled machine, your team members will probably need some tech tools or apps to help them effectively collaborate with each other. This is especially true if some or all members of your team work remotely or from various locations.
Once the workflow is defined, find the right tech tools to help team members work together and perform optimally. Many applications, like Evernote Teams, (referral link) have features specifically geared towards multi-person workgroups (e.g., two or more people).
For example, Evernote Teams will allow your team to work on projects together, collect web research, share files, and communicate easily with each other (via Work Chat).
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Other tools to consider include:
- Google Drive (work on the same document at the same time) *Drive is a Google Workspace app (referral link)
- Trello (visual project management)
- Join.me (team meetings or screen sharing).
Oh, and did you know that Google Drive integrates with Evernote? If your team uses either app, this would be a good time to see how the integration might enhance your team’s workflow and productivity.
6. Develop a Reward System
When your team achieves a win, there should be a system to thank them for their efforts. Sure, everyone likes raises and bonuses, but those are not the only options for rewarding exceptional performers who contribute to overall group success.
Find out from each person on your team how they like to be recognized. While some people want the spotlight, others might prefer a more subdued reward. And, remember, while big wins are awesome, small steps forward should be celebrated, too!
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One More Thing About Team Productivity
These are just six areas you can start focusing on to develop a highly productive team. Of course, it goes without saying that when you invest in your team, their well-being, and their professional development, you provide them with a great work environment.
And, the result: you guessed it — your team’s productivity will skyrocket and go through the roof.
Start thinking about your company culture and the environment you want to cultivate now. What’s working? What needs improving? Make the necessary changes to encourage optimal team productivity.
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What a timely post for the dog days of summer when studies show workplace productivity is at a low! I like your points under communication especially about the meetings. I used to work in a corporate setting and some days you spent more time in meetings than actually doing the work!
It is tricky to get things accomplished when the weather is fabulous or if you’re always in meetings. =)
I love the team workflow conversation. I was chatting recently with someone who hated the detailed client recording work he had to do. I mean, he was physically burning as he did it, and yet he was reluctant to pass it on to anyone else. I’m sure there was a fear of it not getting properly completed. However, I pointed out to him that there are actually people – in his office – who love this type of work…. who actually enjoy it. We talked more and he became open to the idea of transferring the workflow in a way where people who do the work they felt confident about and wanted to do. Sometimes all we need to do is step back a bit and ask if things are working.
“Sometimes all we need to do is step back a bit and ask if things are working.” <-- Yes! Just because we've used the same process doesn't mean that it's the best way to do things.
What I’m reading between the lines here is “investing” in your team. Only then will the team be effective and productive.
Any thoughts when there are some team members that aren’t as interested in “investing” in the team?
If company leaders believe in developing their teams, those teams will most often operate at their best. That’s a win for everyone because the company will likely benefit from their successes. Investing in the team means investing in the company in the long run.
The company leadership sets the tone with regard to culture, so if there’s someone that’s not interested in investing in the team, then it would seem that he/she isn’t a good fit with the company’s core values. I’m not certain that the team can be consistently effective if some members are not aligned with those values. I suspect a shift or change would be needed.
That said, if you build the team from the outset with people who have the same core values — and you invest in them — you’re likely to have a thriving, productive group.