Productivity

No matter what type of business you run, there are several things you can do to improve productivity. Businesses should be aware of this constant need, as there are a lot of things that can drop employee motivation and affect productivity.  By making sure that productivity-killers are addressed, you can ensure a healthy working environment where people would want to proactively work for you, not just because they have to. Here are 6 tips to increase productivity in the workplace.

Get rid of the productivity-killers.  It is very important to identify productivity-killers, as these things affect motivation and productivity.  Ensure that people in the workplace exude a positive aura. Constructive criticism is an important part of the workplace, as this helps lead the team to the right direction – however, make sure you understand that the wrong type of criticism can create friction and drop workplace productivity. Keep in mind that when you offer criticism, you also take into account the end goal – does it provide people the push they need to function better, or does it cause employee production to regress?

Email has recently been cited as a productivity killer, as most people use read and reply to emails within the first several hours of the day. Allot at least several minutes, and schedule an email check throughout the day. This will allow you to work on the most important tasks of the day and attend to only the emails that require immediate attention.

Motivate. Motivation in the workplace is a necessity. Employees tend to get easily bored when faced with monotonous and repetitive tasks. It is important to touch base with every employee, track their progress and see where they can improve on by providing the right kind of motivation. There is no perfect formula to motivate individuals, as their needs vary.

There are basically two types of people in the workplace – employees that gets motivated by challenges, and employees that get motivated when encouraged. Be sure to identify which employee needs that extra challenge to perform better, and which employee needs that once in a while encouragement.

Set goals and timely feedback.  Employees tend to respond better when given clear goals and timely feedback. This is where a good management plan comes in. Create a clear timeline as to what you expect from the people at the workplace.  When providing feedback for errors and improvements, make sure you clearly state the reason as to why it is corrected, and what the repercussions are.

Collaborate. Collaboration fosters trust and teamwork in the workplace. This is also one of the most important things to consider when planning to streamline tasks and keep them efficient as possible. Your workplace should take advantage of the latest technologies that are designed to help office productivity, be it file sharing, collaboration software of even mobile applications.

Develop skills. Employees nowadays develop a wide array of skills that complement their current roles, making workplace productivity much better. Provide opportunities to develop skills and career advancement.

Communicate. Effective communication gets the message across at the right time, the right context and the right manner. Ensure that you encourage healthy communication in the workplace. A proper hierarchy should also be in place, so that people can air out their concerns and inquiries appropriately.  Communication should also be clearly defined, so that no time is wasted trying to contact people via email when they prefer to be contacted a different way.

Keeping up with office productivity is a holistic approach that when executed correctly can create a distraction – free environment and a motivated workforce. Keep these things in mind to keep your steer the workplace in the right direction.