Boosting team productivity: 7 tips to consider

Managing and boosting team productivity isn’t an easy task.

On one side, you want to maintain healthy motivational levels within the team, but on the other side, you still need to work hard towards organizational goals.

Sometimes, it doesn’t matter how hard you work, the results just never seem to happen.

Still, being productive doesn’t simply mean working extra hours – in fact, knowing you’ll be working late may even be an excuse to procrastinate and delay tasks.

But fear not! Regardless, you can still increase your team’s productivity and reap the rewards, also thanks to the 7 tips included in this article.

Boosting team productivity: Be realistic about your timeline

 How much time do you have on hand?

• What is achievable during this set time?
• How long does it take to accomplish the different tasks?

Answering these questions is the first step in boosting productivity. At times, you will fail simply because you are not realistic about your timeline.

Knowing how long it takes to do something and knowing how much time you have is critical.

Also, bear in mind that productivity is not static and every day you can be more or less efficient and focused on your work.

That is why it is important to allocate yourself some spare time in which you can catch up on tasks that have not been completed.

One example is to leave Friday afternoons free so that you have room to finish your work.

Boosting team productivity: Evaluate processes

Similarly to the way you re-evaluate and measure the time needed for each task, so should you evaluate and measure process efficiency (which are different from projects).

Sometimes, the way things are done is dictated by people who are not doing that work or perhaps those processes are based on old technology and old ways of working.

All of this can have a major impact on team productivity.

As you re-evaluate each process, it’s important to make sure you reconsider how things are done and not be afraid of change.

Also, it is critical to engage those people who are actively using those processes.

Boosting team productivity: Refrain from multitasking

We all run into a multitude of distractions during our workday that make us lose focus.

A typical example: you lose focus by even responding to a 2-minute email in the middle of another task.

Recovering that focus is what takes the longest and, in turn, makes you less productive.

You need to teach your team to focus all their energy and attention on the task at hand, forgetting, for the moment, about the rest.

Boosting team productivity: Prioritize and organize workload efficiently

Being well-organized is key to success, and having to-do lists is a sound organizational technique.

The project manager can help team members organize their workload by highlighting and establishing priorities.

There will always be lots of different things to do, but the trick is to prioritize and organize the schedule accordingly.

The way in which the project team is created will play a significant role in this. If you have picked the wrong people, it will be very difficult to organize them properly. Regarding this topic, you might be interested in this article on how to create a project team.

Boosting team productivity: Be self-aware

Being productive depends on self-awareness.

It is critical to teach team members to recognize when they are most productive and when they are doing the best work.

With this awareness, it is possible to organize the work, of the individual and the team, more efficiently.

In this regard, the project manager should be more flexible, meaning that not all tasks necessarily have to be completed while sitting in the office.

Some people, for example, when they need to listen to a video or need to make phone calls, might do so more productively while walking.

Each team member works best when they are given an environment where they are allowed to do things “their way,” obviously within limits.

Boosting team productivity: Give constructive feedback

It is also important that team members get constant feedback on their work.

True leaders understand how important feedback is, knowing how to provide it effectively and constructively.

Whether it is positive or negative, this must always be honest.

The project manager must be straightforward about what and why, providing objective examples and helping to envision the post-change future.

Similarly, feedback must also be positive in the case of tasks well done and small wins.

Appreciation is a core human need and is critical in any successful workplace.

All of this will help establish a culture of trust and personal growth as employees feel valued.

Boosting team productivity: Listening and understanding

Although this should be an automatic matter in every organization, it is actually still an issue that employees constantly face.

As a manager, it’s crucial to promote two-way communication, working to understand the needs of team members.

It’s also helpful to listen to any ideas they may have, because if employees feel sidelined, it will affect their motivation levels by having a negative impact on team productivity and efficiency.

Using these 7 tips means being aware of what to focus on and knowing when it’s time to loosen up.

Team productivity is like baking a cake where the right ingredients – team members – must be carefully picked and mixed in the right way.

Overall, there is no single way to make your team more productive; on the contrary, with small, consistent steps you can lay the foundation for a productive environment.