What Makes a Team Productive?
Team productivity is the number of assigned tasks a team completes in a specified time period. For a sales team, it can mean the number of sales they close in a month.
Among others, high-performing teams have these characteristics:
- Communicate openly between members,
- Have clear responsibilities,
- Set result-oriented goals,
- Are flexible,
- Share their knowledge and accomplishments,
- Have fun together,
- Take a break from the job to recharge.
As a manager, it is important to be aware of your management style and whether or not it is conducive to a productive team. If your team is not performing as well as you would like, consider if there might be something you could change about your management style.
What are the factors that affect team productivity?
Many factors affect team productivity. It all starts with the productivity and skills of the team members. The clarity and ability to achieve the goals set by the organization and the team leader are second.
Managers’ failure to motivate their teams and reward them fairly can also adversely affect team productivity. The team’s work environment, motivation, and communication are other factors that can affect team productivity.
What Makes A Team Productive?
When most employees worked in factories, farms, and warehouses, it was easy to measure their production. All you had to do was look at how many items were produced or how much was harvested from the fields, and you had your tangible measurement of their productivity.
But as the shift to the knowledge economy has changed the way businesses measure productivity, it’s become more difficult for managers to evaluate their employees objectively. One famous example is how some developers judged how many lines of computer code they generated.
What if companies exaggerate how many phone lines they employ for customer service?
We believe productivity is better measured by finding a way to deploy with the least number of lines required. This ensures that the final product is of the highest quality and requires less time and effort.
Every moment counts when you’re running a business.
Whether you aim to compete with industry leaders or carve your path, you have limited time each day, week, and quarter to grow your business.
Each of your employees has 2,000 hours available to help you accomplish your goals, whether launching new products or opening new locations.
Are you giving them the tools and processes needed to be productive during those 8 hours a day?
With more companies adopting a fully distributed team, employees have many more potential interruptions during their work day.
From sharing a workstation with their kids or roommate to feeling burnt out, external circumstances can make it difficult to focus and be productive.
While you can’t eliminate all distractions, you can adopt some policies that help you and your team reach their fullest productivity.
How To Track and Measure Team Productivity
Because team performance is a relative performance measure, there is no single formula for calculating it. Managers often use the general labor productivity formula to measure individual and team performance.
This formula is simple, and you don’t know what result can be considered perfect. This correlation between total output/total input is most useful for companies that produce goods. It won’t be as useful to businesses that offer services or IT solutions.
When looking for ways to measure your team’s productivity, remember that different teams have different outputs. The performance of your team depends on your industry and the work done by your team. The more precise numbers you can gather, the better.
Here s how can you measure the performance of different teams:
- Sales team. Sales team productivity is measured by the number of sales generated (obviously), signed agreements, activated accounts, and so forth. These numbers can be compared to the work hours.
- Marketing team. It is harder to measure the productivity of the marketing team. Brand marketing is a long-term investment, unlike sales, where you can see the actual numbers. Track the number of leads and customers delivered by various marketing channels (social media and AdWords as well as mail-outs, newsletters, and mail-outs).
- Customer support team. The number of issues and tasks resolved in a given time may indicate the productivity of the support staff.
With all that said, how can you improve productivity in your team?
How to Increase Team Productivity
We have compiled 13 simple but effective ways to empower your teams and increase their performance. Applying these strategies to your daily work will help you achieve tangible productivity gains.
1 Delegate responsibilities
Even if you are a skilled professional with exceptional skills, your day only has 24 hours. This means you cannot do all the work yourself (unless you are Hermione Granger or doing things in half measures).
Do not be afraid to delegate tasks to your team. This will increase productivity, save time on important tasks, and build trust with your team. These are the reasons you should have hired these highly skilled peers.
2 Encourage and normalize breaks.
It is important to take breaks throughout the day. Your team can feel burned out if they are constantly working. This can affect their productivity and long-term motivation.
It is a simple solution to encourage your team members to take breaks every 45-60 minutes. Although it may seem counterproductive, employees can recharge and be more focused when returning to work.
3 Encourage loyalty and create it.
Recognizing the value of your work gives you professional satisfaction and motivates you, right? Professional fulfillment leads to greater productivity.
Don’t be afraid to compliment the hard work of your team. Your team should know how valuable you are to their work. Remember, being a good boss can require support and compassion from your team.
4 Organize open and effective communication
Clear and open communication is essential for productive and successful work. Communication between departments and within one team can lead to inconsistencies in the final product and money losses for the company.
Make sure that communication, thoughts, and ideas are shared smoothly. Also, ensure that there is collaboration within the team.
5 Find out the strengths and weaknesses of your employees
You can match people with the right tasks by understanding their strengths. You can also avoid burnout by keeping your employees away from unsuitable work environments and low productivity. Please get to know your employees and give them tasks that allow them to reach their full potential. This will increase productivity and help you to build a team.
6 Set attainable goals
Nothing is more motivating than knowing that you are getting closer to your final goal daily. Your employees should know the company’s goals and targets. This is the ideal scenario.
It is important to break down long-term business goals into manageable milestones. You risk team productivity being low due to the inability to measure the success of hard work.
7 Offer learning and training opportunities.
Even the most hardworking people can fail to improve their performance due to a lack of knowledge. This does not mean they aren’t professionals. It means that there are new and more advanced technologies, products, and solutions every month.
Mastering these and using them daily can dramatically impact the team’s productivity. Learn something new from your employees. Maybe the secret to greater productivity lies outside the office walls.
8 Meet with your employees weekly.
Meetings are one of the most time-consuming activities during a workday. They are useful for quick updates and finding solutions to difficult tasks. Recurring meetings can be distracting from work, especially when people get off-topic and forget the purpose of the meeting.
When planning the next meeting with your team, ask yourself if you need to distract them from what they are doing. When running meetings, be concise and invite only those who are necessary.
9 Make sure you have a positive work environment.
It is hard to believe that a company’s work environment can be a bottleneck in its growth. It turns out that the office environment can make a big difference. Uncomfortable chairs are not to blame.
Team productivity can be negatively affected by constant noise, distracting conversations, and rumors. As a boss, ensure the environment is friendly and conducive to productive work.
10 Be a leader in your team.
To make people more productive at work, you don’t need to be Miranda Priestly (The Devil Wears Prada) or Buddy Ackerman (“Swimming with Sharks”). It’s the reverse. You should be an example of a mindful leader to inspire your employees to perform better.
You can lead the charge, encourage chitchat, help, teach, support, and motivate your team. Excellent time management skills and professionalism are essential. Show appreciation for your team’s work, and you will see results quickly.
How Do You Build a Productive Team?
A productive team is vital for the success of any organization. By following the tips we have shared, you can a highly productive team that will take your business to another level.
Keep the lines of communication open, delegate tasks efficiently, and encourage healthy lifestyle habits among employees. Remember also to create a positive and productive work environment, and you’ll be on your way to success.
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