No doubt, every business setting strives for one impactful result; increased productivity.
While there’s no denying that “teamwork makes the dream work.”
However, when it comes to your team’s productivity; no matter how great the pool of talent is, some things just take time.
Managing a team, no matter the size goes through an endless loop of effort, trial and error.
So, how do you make sure everyone is in sync to create the right recipe for superb team productivity?
Well, this article will give you that much-needed productivity guidelines to improve performance and consequently achieve workplace success.
Productivity is a word that is synonymous with efficiency. It is a measure of how much an individual or a team can accomplish in a specific amount of time.
In reference to an individual, productivity is described as how much a person can generate or create as outputs.
However, the concept of team productivity gains a different meaning from its basic definition. Specifically, team productivity is a measure of tasks executed for quality results in a given time.
It is associated with enhancing team member satisfaction and supplying the essential tools to complete a project with efficiency.
In practice, employees with higher productivity easily progress in their careers. So, you can say, that a worker’s productivity level is directly connected to their overall company value.
In the words of Motor Company founder Henry Ford, “If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.”
Although a talented pool of members creates a solid team, it doesn’t necessarily result in high performance. In truth, team productivity is more than just randomly putting individuals together.
So, for a team to be truly effective, team players must share the same belief and vision, and be driven to bring it to fruition.
But, how do you promote team effectiveness?
Here are some of the major habits that make a team effective and productive.
Setting goals is easy. Defining clearly what those goals are about; how, when and what should be done, that’s a completely different circumstance.
Think about the ways of setting up goals. For example, a vague goal is to have more customers. While a specific goal is to make 5 new customers each day.
Vague goals are harder to realize because you can’t tell if you’re making any progress at all. It’s not very tangible. Thus, it’s easier to push off the idea. On the other hand, specific goals tell exactly what you’re aiming at, and that’s why you’re most likely to achieve them.
According to Forbes, “Business transparency is the process of being open, honest and straightforward about various company operations.”
This mainly implies that there’s a share of information relating to performance, internal processes and business values.
Transparency is a pivotal point in team effectiveness and productivity in so many ways. For one, it affects organizational members at any level, directly.
It invokes trust between leaders and their team members. The success of a project or a task is significantly dependent on establishing trust.
When employees are aware of the purpose and goals of a firm, it builds team motivation and team effectiveness. Of course, this makes them more motivated and ambitious.
Micromanagement leads to one negative thing which then leads to another. The first to eventually break down is the trust between you and your staff.
When you start obsessing over every small detail and hovering constantly over them, you create an environment where employees develop insecurities and a lack of confidence.
As trust breaks, rest assured, productivity also suffers. Even worst, you may lose employees as well.
And in such cases of virtual assistant work, micromanagement is nothing but counterproductive. Entrepreneurs fall into the same excessive trap of micromanaging virtual assistant tasks and responsibilities, a system that nonetheless forces down trust and productivity.
So, if you want a team of personal assistant online to function in a specific way, let’s say in handling a real estate virtual assistant tasks; the better response is to give them clear instructions and let them have autonomy over their work.
Not only does flexibility attract skilled workers, but it also boosts productivity.
Case in point, according to research, close to 45% of employees claim that workplace flexibility is their main driver of productivity —and it’s not difficult to see why.
This special type of working arrangement is mostly apparent in virtual assistant services with the likes of a digital assistant, a virtual personal assistant, or a virtual sales assistant.
Outsource virtual assistant allows team members to maintain a work-life balance. It’s basically giving them the freedom to choose how, when and where to do the work.
In doing so, per se, an online personal assistant can operate during the hours they are most effective to handle virtual assistant responsibilities and virtual assistant tasks.
Thanks to the ever fast-pacing modern business, enhancing team effectiveness has become more and more challenging.
Today, how to increase your productivity doesn’t only extend to eliminating unimportant tasks, it also includes empowering the team. Empowered employees are typically faster, loyal and more engaged.
Here are the three ways you can explore the empowerment badge and consequently, enhance team effectiveness.
Strengths and weaknesses play a dominant role in bolstering overall team effectiveness in the company.
One of the best ways to utilize the team’s strengths is by identifying its weaknesses first. In order to do that, you must evaluate the team’s performance, determine limitations and have an open discussion on how to refine these shortcomings.
Make time to get to know team members, what they love about their job and where they see themselves in the significant future. This improves a team’s productivity by a thousand-fold.
Recognizing a team member’s outstanding efforts builds morale and encourages hard work.
Celebrating a job well done is highly paramount in the business setting.
But how to motivate your team?
You can say a personal “thank you,” or treat the team to lunch. Whatever practice or reward system you prefer, as an employer, it’s your job to consistently give credit where credit’s due.
But do it in a way though, where recognition fortifies and inspires team members to maintain and advance with the positive contribution.
Many companies are still unconvinced about the positive impact of training when it comes to enhancing effectiveness.
Well, according to a study conducted by the American Society for Training and Development, companies that invest more in training have recorded over 50% increase in sales. This clearly affirms the importance of training in employee engagement and enhancing effectiveness.
Of course, the training programs have to be paired with coaching, accordingly. Give regular feedback to further improve these upskilling maneuvers.
Remember, learnings from training drive performance!
Most of us understand what constitutes productivity, but what about team productivity?
There are manifold ways to be productive in a team. For instance, every productive member of the team knows and understands the task they need to accomplish. If a bilingual virtual assistant needs assistance, team players will certainly provide help.
Team productivity is not passively waiting around for others to complete a task for them. They will be responsible and take action to fulfill these responsibilities to the best of their abilities.
A successful team takes less time and effort to achieve what it wants to create.
Let’s be honest, nowadays, it’s not enough to just show up in the office, you have to bring you’re A-game to thrive and survive.
But if you ever find the team taking a nosedive, the most important thing to do to keep things productive is to always look at the bright side. Practice workplace optimism because negativity takes so much energy which stops everyone from getting any work done.
By providing a healthy positive environment, team members keep their spirits high. It improves team performance and brings out much-needed energy to be more productive throughout the day.
“The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.”
When talented individuals show up, genuinely keyed up to collaborate and create good teamwork, they are fundamentally more engaged and productive.
So, as the top person that leads team management, you need to be able to find a system that improves a team’s productivity and enhances overall company effectiveness.
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