Having low productivity within the workplace is not uncommon at all. Research has shown time and time again that employees are only around 60% productive in the workplace, and because of this, businesses can find it difficult to satisfy their customer demands. This leads to a huge financial loss every single year, but there are things that you can do about it. Take a look below to find out more.
Multitasking
If you go online and do some research regarding multitasking then sometimes you will see people saying it is good, and sometimes people will say it is bad. If you are the CEO of a company, then you may think that it is wise to hook as many of your staff up as you can, with different tasks. If you do this, then you may be thinking that they will never be in a position where they don’t have anything to do. If this is your approach, then it is time for you to change that. Think about it, if you have project A and project B and you know that each one needs to be done, then you may think that a week for each is enough. If you adopt this approach, then you may find that both projects will be done at the end of two weeks. If you allowed your team to work on project A for a week and then onto project B for the second week, you may find that project A is done earlier and that your team have all the second week to focus on the other jobs they have.
Stress
Another huge issue that can contribute to low productivity would be workplace-related stress. Studies have shown that there are around one million employees who are currently experiencing a reduction in productivity due to stress and this will cost you money every single year. When you know that your colleagues or your team members are being plagued with job-related anxiety, you may find that they end up losing concentration and this can lead to low productivity. When your team are stressed, it may be that they jump from one task to another and that they are simply not able to focus their time in an appropriate manner. Another reason why stress is an issue in an organization is if you have team members who have too many tasks at once. Imagine seeing your colleague distracted by the next task, and then never working on the task that they need to be. Is this a productive situation? Probably not. It will waste time, energy and resources, and this is the last thing that you need when you are trying to run a business. If you want to stop issues like this from happening, then you need to try and pick up some tips for managing a team.
Lack of Belonging
One important reason for low productivity amongst team members could be the fact that they do not feel like they are a part of the company that they are working for. It is vital for every CEO or even senior manager to feel as though their business environment is welcoming to any new hire and that they do not feel underappreciated. Before you even think about hiring someone, you have to make sure that you communicate the principles and the values that your company has to offer. You also need to try and make sure that everyone is going to follow them in the future. If you do not, then you may find that the probability of your workforce is going to decrease, because they are not in an environment that encourages them to thrive.
Lack of Recognition
Providing your team with acknowledgement of their good work and everything that they have done is crucial if you want them to be able to complete tasks efficiently. Studies have shown that if team members are not being recognized for the work that they are putting in, then there is a high chance that they will get demotivated, and this will decrease their productivity. It will also cause problems as your team will grow unhappy and they may not be able to tell you about their issues through fears of not being listened to. This is the last thing that you want, but there are ways for you to turn this around. Recognition is one of the highest forms of feedback you can give to your team. If you know that you are a senior manager, then you have to make sure that your team feel valued and that you tell them they have done well. They will feel better overall about their position within your company, and this will increase their productivity overall.
Toxic Behavior
It is vital that you set up some rules between your teams for good behavior in the workplace. You may think that workplace bullying is a thing of the past but believe it or not, there are many employees that still suffer from it to this day. Other toxic behavior happens because people are always trying to sabotage and manipulate the environment. This tends to be seen in bigger organizations, where employees use methods to climb their careers and get ahead on the corporate ladder. Behavior like this will impact team members and it may even force them to think about their position within the company over the long term. The solution for issues like this is very simple. When you want a positive change to happen, it is vital that you set up a flow of knowledge. This has to be between everyone. You can do this through feedback loops. If you can do this, then you will be able to find out whatever the problem is, and you can also change it because of the feedback you have been able to generate.
Damaged Structures
Another huge reason why your employees may have low productivity is because they do not have good organizational skills. This may take place in many different forms, but it usually happens if you should fail to optimize your workflow. In situations like this, namely in much bigger organizations, there is a lack of coherence between departments. All of the individual parts of a company have to work together to try and achieve the same goal. Even if there is some confusion when it comes to who is responsible for what, you have to make sure that this is smoothed out. Everyone on your team has to know what other people are doing and you also need to have a visual management board too. This allows certain members of the team to work through tasks. It also helps you to monitor who is doing what, which is essential.
Lots of Meetings
Having meetings is very important when you look at your company overall. The main reason for this is because it is how ideas are generated and how forecasts are predicted. In a lot of cases, organizations tend to have meetings for their teams over the smallest of issues. You have to remember that this is a very wasteful activity, and it consumes a lot of your worker’s time. This makes them very unproductive, and this is the last thing that you need. One better way of managing situations like this would be for you to have daily stand-up meetings. This is where your team go through the various tasks that have been done, and what needs to be done. This helps to keep everyone in sync, and it also means that you do not have to drag everyone in when the meetings do not concern them directly. If you can get this out of the way in the morning, then it gives the team the chance to be way more productive over the day.
Improper Management
Another huge reason why productivity levels tend to be low in the workplace is through issues like poor management. Research has shown that around 80% of employees have experienced some form of bad management in the past. This demotivates them and it stops them from putting out their best work. There are many managers who tend to micromanage the people below them, and in this day and age, this tactic just doesn’t work. Businesses do not need bosses, instead, they need leaders who are able to drive change while pushing the company forward. If you want to see your worker and their general productivity improve, then you have to try and abandon any hierarchies, and you also need to build a team where everyone is connected in the best possible way. If you can do this, then you will see a huge improvement overall.
So, there are many things that you can do to try and get your team to where they need to be, and if you can follow this guide, you will soon see that it is possible for you to make a monumental change with just a few simple steps. Why not see if you could get better results today?
Image Credits: Andreas Klassen
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