4 Tips for Optimizing the Productivity of Employees

Most productivity blogs and books pay special attention to optimizing your own ability to manage your time and tasks effectively. While this is all well and good, and I’ve certainly improved my own ability to manage my time by following useful tips like these, there are times when you need to inspire others to manage their own time. Are you the leader of a team at work where your success depends on their success? Here are a few tips for ensuring that your employees are as productive as they can be with their time.

1. Keep strict deadlines.

If you want to ensure that your team or group is working as efficiently as possible, it is absolutely essential that you communicate clear guidelines. When deadlines are loose, motivation by proxy decreases. If each member in your team knows that a specific amount of work must be finished by a very specific time, then they will feel more deeply inspired to get things done.

2. Become intimately acquainted with each employee’s workflow and assign work accordingly.

When managing others’ work, remember that each person works differently and to a varying rhythm. Although it may be tempting to try to get everyone to work at the same pace and structure that you do, people are generally most effective when they are doing things in their own way. As such, I often talk with each member of my team about how they get things done and then assign them tasks that are better suited to their temperament. For example, if someone on your team has a short attention span, give him or her an array of small tasks can each be completed in a few hours.

3. Show them the bigger picture.

People naturally seek purpose in their lives, and most will grudgingly do their work if they don’t know how it has a larger impact. Thus, it is important to show everyone in your group how each of them is contributing to the bigger picture in your organization. Don’t just tell them they are helpful — show them how exactly they are making a difference. Find out any metrics you can to show them how their efforts have helped your business. You’d be surprised by how much more interested in their work they will become once they know how they are making a positive impact.

4. Develop team camaraderie.

In addition to providing workers with a grander purpose, it is also important that each member of your team care about one another. This is because when they occasionally lose interest in their work, they will keep themselves motivated when they know that people they like are depending on them. There are a number of ways in which you can develop a strong feeling of community among the group that you are managing. You can have lunch together, hold substantive meetings, have outings during the weekends, or even have each member join an informal sports team together.

Even though it can be endlessly frustrating to have to direct others to keep on task, there are specific things you can do to ensure that productivity is consistent among everyone in your group. The most important thing to keep in mind is to treat each individual in your group with the respect he or she deserves, and you’ll be surprised what they do in return for you.

This article was submitted by guest author Stella Walker. She is a freelance writer of credit score guide, where she writes about a variety of topics including credit, debt, investments and bankruptcy.