Leading a team, whether it consists of 10 team members or 100, is never easy. And it is even more difficult to make the team’s work produce good results. But we already know how to make employees’ work more efficient and productive.
Some of the modern workplace trends are revolutionizing the way teams perform! From flexible working schedules to unified communication, considering such trends when building an ideal workplace for the team can help unlock their full potential.
So, we share the top 5 ways to improve teamwork.
- Goal setting and tracking
First, you have to step back and think about what exactly you want your team to be working on. Define key goals and take into consideration your team’s capacity to execute on them. Make sure you have processes in place and consider HR workflow software to track your progress.
In the meantime, hire a software development team and don’t forget to keep the goals attainable. Assigning one large project, even with a reasonable deadline, could be overwhelming. Alternatively, breaking large projects into smaller iterations shows clear progress and motivates teammates as they move toward the final product.
- Team communication
One of the keys to working more efficiently is having a single communication system. This idea is supported by the fact that almost half of US workers prefer to communicate with colleagues online, saving on productivity.
The ideal communication system for your company is a team messenger. Every team can find the best free project management software solution depending on its needs. It will be the universe of your team, where you won’t get distracted by chatting with relatives or friends. You can also use the help of an online whiteboard, which will help your team with real-time collaboration in the workplace.
In remote teams, effective communication is vital to maintaining collaboration and productivity. Virtual coffee breaks effectively allow team members to connect more personally, fostering a sense of fellowship and strengthening relationships. These interactions help bridge the distance between team members, encourage better understanding, and enhance communication in the virtual workspace. (edited)
- Feedback
You need to develop a culture of trust in your team by providing constructive, meaningful feedback on a regular basis. For example, ask about the difficulties your employees are facing and how you can help them allocate their time more efficiently, perhaps they need more resources. Feel free to ask the following questions to facilitate the feedback process:
– Are the set goals still relevant?
– Is there any progress in the work? If not, why not?
– Is the workload achievable?
You can also use performance management software. It will help make sure that the process is efficient and that all employees are working at their best.
If you run a contact center or sales team, a great way to give feedback to your employees is through live call coaching, so they can implement feedback in real time.
- Performance measurement
If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it. So keep an eye on the metrics that matter for your team. For instance, analyze recent changes in productivity, sales and income, or inspect the latest staff retention rates.
What you should remember is that improving internal communication brings long-term returns. But as a manager, you should understand the halfway results. If you are not satisfied with them, try to utilize other tactics to improve team communication. Otherwise, if you notice a positive trend, scale your efforts.
- Moving forward
Productivity is never random. If you swing like a pendulum on your own, trying to increase the productivity of your team, the only goal you will achieve is wasted time. In order for workplace productivity to grow, you need to constantly monitor your company’s workflow and never stop striving to achieve better results.
Now let’s summarize. Often, the main problem with failure to achieve results is poor communication within the team and inefficient use of working time (distraction by social networks, viewing entertainment content, etc.).
Sometimes employees just need a scenery change, which is easy to solve by booking a hot desk at a flex space using coworking software and letting them work a couple of days in the week in some creative, inspiring environment.
And if the manager needs to make a lot of effort to establish contact with employees, then special tools can help in monitoring productivity. Of course, we already have such a tool – Yaware.TimeTracker.
Yaware.TimeTracker – simple and flexible productivity monitoring tool that allows you to keep track of time with minimal interference in the employee’s personal spaces
With its help, you can find out:
- what time is the most productive for employees
- what resources employees use to complete a specific task
- how much time is spent on solving a task
- when completing a task, there are difficulties and help is needed
- what diverts employees’ attention and keeps them from moving forward
Remember that knowing the problem is the first step to solving it. As a result of getting all this information, you will be able to work with your employees on the issues that prevent you from moving towards your goal. After that, the productivity and efficiency of your team will increase significantly!