It can be difficult to motivate an entire team, and even more challenging to constantly encourage everyone's productivity. By making a few simple changes in the work week, however, company leaders can leave a lasting positive impact on their staff's efforts.
Related:Empowered Employees Equals Empowered Company
Employees who feel empowered within their company are more inspired to contribute. Not to mention, if they are accountable for their goals, and given the tools to succeed, employees will be excited to improve their team's success.
Part of being successful as a team, requires coming together as a team. Here are five things you can do today to increase your team's productivity:
1. Share, Support, And Succeed Together
It's important for staff members to recognize expectations, understand the company culture and goals, and have a chance to contribute to them. With the support of management or company leaders, employees can feel empowered to contribute to the bigger picture in the company through their individual efforts. A great way to achieve this is to establish weekly team meetings or e-mails. (We do both, here at CAREEREALISM!) These meetings encourage open communication and help everyone to be on the same page. Not to mention, success can be experienced and celebrated together!
2. Set Attainable Goals
Just because you have goals doesn't make them attainable! If you have too many goals and too little time, or don't give your staff the tools they need to accomplish them, you're setting them up for failure! Talk about a quick way to lose interest. To keep from sending productivity out the window, set both long-term and short-term goals. Then, look for your staff's participation to establish the ways you can accomplish both. By offering feedback and support, you can nail down the most efficient way to check more goals off your list.
3. Collaborate
Sometimes the best projects come from putting your heads together. By encouraging collaboration within your staff, you give people with different perspectives and skill sets an opportunity to think creatively and challenge themselves. Collaborative work complements productivity because everyone holds themselves to a higher standard to accomplish more, better work. At CAREEREALISM, it's not uncommon to find us brainstorming around someone's desk or sharing e-mails for feedback from colleagues! We want to do great work for ourselves AND for one another.
4. Develop Leaders
If your employees are taught to think like “businesses-of-one," you are going to develop leaders within your staff. By encouraging your employees to be independent, they will increase their skills, seek challenges, and take ownership of projects. By developing leaders, you are ensuring that your employees are critical thinkers who will work to grow as professionals. Better professionals means better employees.
5. Make Time For Team Bonding
This may sound silly, but teams that laugh together, do really great work together. I always stand by this statement. From sports teams, to groups of friends, to successful companies, this rule is a great one to fall back on. Just as important as having a game plan, it's essential that your team is comprised of people who can trust and rely on another. While working collaboratively helps develop a team, bonding over something funny or having down-time at things like team lunches breaks down the barriers that allow your employees to feel comfortable at work. If you have a team that can laugh together, they can be productive together.
In addition to team lunches, one way we stay laughing at CAREEREALISM is trying to film our weekly YouTube series, Career in Real Life. I say
trying because sometimes (okay, usually) it's filled with more laughter than acting prowess. Don't buy it? Check out our Bloopers video.
While not every team is going to put themselves on camera, there are plenty of other ways to grow as a team. Company outings, friendly department competitions, or even a joke-of-the-week can help your employees get to know one another. Find what suits your company best!
Overall, an environment where employees feel their efforts are valued and voices are heard is the type of place where there will be no loss for productivity. Where there are productive, happy employees, there is a successful company.
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