Workplace productivity is not just a fancy management term. After working under different organisations, I learned that an organisation’s growth and profitability depends on several factors, but arguably the most important one is the team’s productivity. If your team is motivated and productive, chances are you will go through every obstacle and grow into one of the most respectable names within the niche.
How to Make Your Team More Productive
There can be different definitions and opinions, but I guess the workplace productivity depends on office culture, environment and how people deal with each other. If the office culture appreciates new and innovative ideas, chances are the team will be motivated overall; however, if the team has to follow a robotic routine then chances are it will never be motivated towards company growth.
After spending years working under different organisations and reading the book “Office Management: A productivity and efficiency guide,” I learned a few things that I believe increase workplace productivity to a greater extent.
Leadership and Management Capabilities
The best part about effective leaders is that they always know where they are heading; they have a clear idea of where to take the team and the company in the long run. The best leaders always identify new opportunities and inspire the team to pursue them.
This mindset motivates the team to work together and focus on the central goal that will help the organisation/company grow and become a leader within the niche.
If the leaders are shortsighted and cannot find new opportunities, the team will only follow the rules that are given in the book, which as a result will only let them achieve limited goals.
If any organisation or team needs to be more productive, they require people who are true leaders and have great management skills.
Create a Culture of Positive Relationships
Teams and individuals become more motivated and productive when they can share new ideas with their managers. If your organisation has the culture of sharing and building positive relationships between teams, you will easily come up with ideas for getting more work done in less time.
A culture of positive relationships will always value people's insights and experience, and with collective ideas and processes, your workplace can work together better and smarter. This means that your organisation as a whole can be more innovative and productive with time, which at the end of the day will help the company grow and increase workplace productivity.
Encourage the Use of New Technology
Read “Good to Great” and you will realise that although technology alone cannot lead the company to success, but it’s definitely a great accelerator. If your organisation has the culture of appreciating new and innovative technology, you as an organisation can grow faster than any other competitor within your niche.
When you allow your teams to introduce new technologies (verified by hedgehog concept) this will not only accelerate the growth of the company, but also make the overall workplace more innovative and productive at the same time.
Invest in People
The more skills your teams have, the more effective and innovative they can be. But, investing in people is not limited to requiring them earn more certifications and for them to be more skilled, but also providing them with a workplace that gives them sense of comfortability and allows them use their interpersonal skills.
In-short, investing in people means investing in comfortable chairs, state-of-the-art office space and more. Once you do that, teams will be more comfortable sharing ideas, ideologies and working together on a central goal to take the company to the next level.
Organization and Processes
If you as a company are not organised nor have a process in place, you are missing a big part and you might not maintain growth and success for a longer period of time. This might sound boring, but this one is important.
Productive workplaces have structures and processes that enable them to adapt and grow as the market changes. A well-organised workplace is able to get the best out its staff and technology.
Long story short, if you need a to increase workplace productivity, you need to put these processes in place.
There are more ideas like networking and collaboration of ideas, measuring what matters and more, but the aforementioned above ideas are very important in order to make your teams more organised and productive. I am personally glad that I am a part of the organisation that takes care of the workplace culture and invests in their team on a greater scale.
Blogpost submitted by Moosa Hemani - Inbound Manager at The Workplace Depot
Posted in Workplace Commentary