It’s pretty clear that the old adage is true: teamwork really does make the dream work. It’s also pretty clear that sometimes, people actually become less productive when working with their chummy coworkers and work friends, making a project drag on to the point where it seems endless.
There is a world, though, where your project gets done quickly, efficiently, and at the level of quality that you need for the project to be successful. But how? There are plenty of ways to turn an unproductive team into the dream team you’ve been wishing for, which can turn a lengthy process into an efficient one before you know it.
These are some of the most effective productivity hacks by Stacey Wonder from EssayTigers you can introduce to your team:
When you allow your employees and teammates to work on their own accord, they’ll be far more likely to get excited about a project. This allows employees to feel like they actually have a stake in the final project. Giving teammates autonomy over the project they’re working on will allow them to become self-motivated, which will, in turn, allow for the project or discussion to end up in a more productive place than it was before.
It can also allow employees to feel less pressure to do their work in a certain way, and instead feel that they can do their work the best they can their way, which will make them feel less judged, and more proud of the work they produce.
Really, it’ll help to get your team to narrow down their priorities. When a group gets a huge list of to-do’s they’ll easily feel overwhelmed, not knowing where to begin to actually work toward an end goal. Instead, try to compile that huge to-do list into no more than 5 items, which will help your team figure out the proper steps for completing their project, and take a lot of stress off of them when it comes to figuring out what item to complete first.
It’ll also help for a manager or team leader to effectively communicate which items are of the utmost priority, which will get your team working on the items most necessary to complete quickly.
Your priorities go hand in hand with setting the goals that will get your team to the place you need them to be. This can include small goals throughout the process, as well as that one big end goal you’re working toward. Having a specific goal will help you to get those priorities in line, and keep everybody on the right track and in the same mindset.
While it might seem that giving criticism can move your team in the opposite direction you’re trying to get them to move in, constructive and useful feedback can actually encourage teammates to improve. This type of feedback tells them that they can trust you to be honest with them, and at the same time, motivates them to do better next time.
It’s equally important to give positive feedback when your teammates deserve it. It’s incredibly encouraging to employees for them to hear that they’ve done a good job, especially when they truly deserve it. This will get them to keep going and do more great work as they continue to work on the project at hand.
We live in a wonderful world of technology, and it’s been able to open incredible doors for actually getting quality work done quickly. Providing your team with the right technology will allow your team to work more productively in that they’ll be able to get their work done in new and innovative ways. Start thinking of technology as a tool you can use to get your project done in its best form, rather than a distraction.
Modern technology can do amazing things that will help push your project in the right direction, from being able to automatically schedule meetings and project due dates, to providing employees with access to programs that can make projects easier to complete.
In order to actually accomplish a goal, it’s important to allow time for rest. Rest is crucial to keeping that motivation up, so taking regular breaks is something that should be scheduled into your day, just like your meetings are. Not only can breaks actually improve how productive your team is, but it will also help your employees feel happier doing the work and feel more motivated to get their part of the project done.
It might be completely against your instinct to allow your employees to take risks, but in reality, this goes hand in hand with giving autonomy. When you allow your employees to take risks, they might actually better the project overall by coming up with something that ends up moving the project forward in a new and innovative way. While it might make you nervous that there could be setbacks involved in taking risks, the reality is, there’s plenty to gain from risk-taking that makes it worth it.
Every person is unique, bringing their own strengths to the table. Knowing what each person has to offer can make it much easier to delegate tasks to the person who will be able to complete it in the best way. If you assigned teammates tasks inefficiently, it’ll be incredibly hard to get work done properly.
You might give someone the assignment of doing the project write-up when they’re actually really good at crunching numbers, and someone else the task of calculating the project gains and losses when they’re actually a star writer. Knowing where each employee stands will not only allow you to get the project done fast, but it will also allow each person to enjoy the work they’re doing, which can be incredibly motivating.
Not only can meetings take away from the time that you could be spending to actually complete tasks, but meetings often bring down morale. While you can’t completely do without them, it might still benefit your team to cut down on the amount of them, allowing for more efficient time use, and more motivation at work.
When it comes to motivating your team to be more productive in the workplace, there are quite a few ways to do so. Productivity is something that can only increase when you make subtle changes to the workplace. From better defining the priorities of your team to allowing employees to take risks that might better the project, productivity is something that’s best cultivated in an open-minded working environment.
With these tips on your side, you’ll have the tools you need to bring about the most productive version of your team the workplace has ever seen.
