According to recent research conducted by Teamstage, “Teamwork is very important for 37% of employees.”

We all aspire to be productive. What holds us back from achieving our goals is not poor management or office politics, it’s in fact the perception of productivity. In today’s world, hard work doesn’t equal smart work. We’re often inclined towards favoring hard work and believe that it keeps our mind and body engaged. Whereas the truth is working longer hours or skipping our meals for work is actually counterproductive to our career growth. 

Then, how do you ensure high productivity without burdening the employees with exhaustion?

There are lots of subtle changes that you can bring to your everyday work management which will boost productivity and keep your employees motivated. 

5 Effective Ways to Work Smarter with Employees

According to a Gallup study, “Engaged employees are more productive, resulting in a 21% increase in profits.” 

One interesting way to work smarter is to schedule the team’s tasks in a way that the harder and pressing tasks are planned for the start of the week. Encourage your team members to take care of the bigger tasks first and relax with every passing day. This also makes sure that the priority tasks get done for sure. 

Here are a few proven ways to work smart with employee thereby enhancing productivity levels: 

1. Create achievable goals for your team 

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When you work with a team, you should be more focused on the overall performance. And this means you need to set goals and priorities for your team members. Even if there is no financial reward for accomplishing business objectives, setting clear and achievable goals has shown to improve employee performance by 12-15%. 

The best goals are those that are specific and can be measured – in other words, SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, results-oriented, time-bound) goals. These goals should be challenging yet achievable. If your business goals are too broad, make sure you break them into smaller goals. Micro goals can be achieved over a period of time and the sense of accomplishment motivates you to knock out the other goals easily. When you see a small amount of progress, even the bigger goals seem a lot more achievable. 

2. Create a to-do list

An important point to keep in mind is, when you are creating a to-do list, do limit the number of tasks on any given day. A smaller to-do list looks achievable and can intimidate you less than usual. 

Tag your tasks according to the most important ones and ensure that at least three of them get done in a single workday. There is no harm in creating a shorter to-do list as long as you get the tasks done in time. This will help you in planning your day better and relax outside office hours.

You can also try placing similar tasks in one bucket. Instead of switching back and forth to multiple tasks, it is a good idea to get a chunk of similar tasks done at one go.

3. Automate regular tasks to save time

There are certain tasks that we do every day at the office. If you can automate those tasks, you will not only save a lot of time but also boost your productivity. As per a report by McKinsey, almost 45% of all the regular works can be handled with automation using the already present technology.

Automating the regular tasks and other documentation can allow your employees to shift their focus on the tasks that need more attention every day.

• Keep employees on the same page

When you are working towards a common objective, it is important to keep everyone on the same page. Each employee must be able to understand and be responsible for the tasks assigned to them. Only then they will be able to contribute together as a team. 

Use documenting software to take care of the technical documentation of the project that you are working on. With the help of this tool, it will be convenient to create an amazing online knowledge base that can be helpful for your project, clients, and employees too.

If you want to create a more customer-led knowledge base, building content around customer queries, Crisp.Chat offers knowledge base software that can draw directly from an attached live chat system. This can help you create SEO-polished pages in addition to saving you time.

• Let your creative juices flow with a presentation maker 

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Similarly, with the help of a presentation maker, take care of the office presentations which otherwise take up a considerable amount of time. With this great tool, you can now ditch the PowerPoint and create sales pitches and business presentations that look professional and allow you to communicate your message clearly. 

• Track the time it takes to complete a task

Often you would see that despite using employee-friendly working procedures, the productivity is still not up to the expectation. This happens when you overlook the real reason behind the lag in productivity.

Identify where you are taking more time than usual. Start tracking the time and find out where you are spending more time than is necessary.

It’s simple. Try to check how long a task takes to complete at any given time. Review the progress and you will be able to identify what’s taking up most of your time. You will also be able to find out if any roadblocks are binding you.

• Avoid unnecessary meetings

A great way to cut down on wasted time is to keep the meetings limited to a bare minimum. Often when an employee is engaged in deep work and he has to attend a meeting, it can impact his productivity. Set a precise agenda if you must call a meeting. Stick to the set agenda and finish off the meeting in 30 minutes or less time. Avoid team meetings unless it is necessary. When you set clear objectives and expectations from your employees, they will deliver. You need to trust your employees in their ability and commitment.

4. Encourage employees to design their work routine

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Encourage the employees to take ownership of their work. Hold them accountable for the results but not for the time they have taken to achieve the results. When you give your employees this freedom, they tend to become more committed to their work which enhances their productivity.

Let each team member plan their day according to their requirements. Tracking the time for a task done is important, but it is not as important as the well-being of your team members. When the team members enjoy the work freedom, they tend to deliver more thereby boosting productivity.

• Create window hours for employees

As a manager, you can also break up the work routine into windows of work hours and leisure hours. These window hours must be flexible and can be used for accommodating meetings and other personal tasks like running an errand etc. even if the errand is a personal one.

• Let employees take their breaks

Encourage employees to take their breaks at regular intervals. Interact with your subordinates during coffee breaks. Plan lunch hours with them occasionally. This will work in two ways for the business. The employees will get to communicate their issues with you candidly and will also be able to come back to work with a fresh mind.

They should also take week-offs as and when necessary. When they take their designated leaves to spend time with their family, they will come back to the office rejuvenated and refreshed.

5. Give your employees the flexibility to say ‘No’ when required

Often, employees feel intimidated by work pressure and office management. This leads to taking up more on the plate than what they can handle. It’s imperative to say that it leads to exhaustion which hampers productivity. Your teammates may not tell you how exhausted they feel or if they are not comfortable doing a task. 

Avoid scheduling more tasks than what one can handle in a day. As a manager, it is up to you to put yourself in your employees’ shoes to understand their concerns. While there will always be something or the other that needs to get done, people have their thresholds too. If you intend to have a happy team with a high level of productivity, you have to allow them to have a good work-life balance. Else they might be a part of your project in person, but in the process, they might strain their family life. The effect will directly hamper your productivity and quality of work.

Conclusion

Being a manager comes with lots of perks. But at the same time, this title also holds a lot of responsibility towards work, business, and also the reports. If the productivity of your team is not up to the expectation, the onus comes down on you. As a manager, it is up to you to demonstrate ways in which your team members can feel motivated and maximize their outputs.

When you allow your employees to take charge of their career, and give them the freedom to work flexibly, they will deliver beyond expectation. 

What are some of your smart tactics to ensure high productivity in your team? Let us know in the Comments section below. 

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Author bio: 

Atreyee Chowdhury works full-time as a Learning Experience Designer and is passionate about writing. She has helped many small and medium-scale businesses achieve their content marketing goals with her carefully crafted content that is both informative and engaging. She lives in Bangalore, India with her husband. In her free time, she loves to read, experiment with different cuisines, travel, and explore the latest content marketing and L&D trends. You can reach her on Linkedin or write to her at atreyee.c@gmail.com to discuss your content marketing plans and requirements.