So, what is the secret of effective teams?Building a productive team is what every manager wants to do, with the proof of a productive team often seen in the profit-shaped pudding.
Here are the top things you can do as a manager to build a productive team:
Establish yourself as an effective manager
It is crucial to establish yourself as a solid leader by building relationships and garnering respect and loyalty from your staff – as opposed to using the power of your position and creating a culture of fear, which if anything will reduce productivity.
Try to continuously inspire and encourage your staff – use team meetings to do this by giving inspirational pointers and praise.
A balanced team is a productive team
Having a team full of individuals with their own strengths and being able to turn this into a sum greater than the individual parts is key to productivity and teambuilding.
Get to know each employee’s strengths in terms of skills, experience and character traits, and aim for a good balance in each area. This means you can then assign various tasks to the employee to whom they are best suited to, reducing time wasted.
Try to resist the urge to send work to someone who has no experience in the area, even if you are struggling with a deadline.
Reward for results
Set clear and challenging – but achievable – targets and outline associated rewards for all your staff to help motivate them and maintain focus. Do not treat missed targets as a failure; instead, treat them as purely an opportunity to learn/improve.
How to improve productivity
Make it easier
Make sure that your employees have the tools at their disposal to enable them to do their jobs well, and look at removing barriers that may prevent this.
Improve communication
This is a great way of making your team more productive. Lines and methods of communication should be clear and consistent, and your team needs to understand the importance of communication. Make sure that all employees feel able and willing to ask when they do not understand something, without fear of being rebuked.
As a manager, you need to be able to express yourself well so that people understand what you expect of them.
Train and teach
By providing constant training, you can build skills, ability and self-confidence – all of which boost productivity. Hold regular workshops to discuss organisational systems and procedures; teach your employees key skills; and embrace software that can boost performance/efficiency.
Help your employees to be the best they can.
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