Every business owner knows what’s expected of them when it comes time to indoctrinate a new hire. After the training videos are all watched and the new employee is motivated to kick butt and take names, is that when your supervision ends, or are there still ways get more productivity out of your staff?
It’s an important question to ask because the answer will reveal a lot about your business philosophy and management style. When it comes to managing your personnel, the two extremes that you will fall somewhere between are 1) you are completely hands off and expect your employees to follow established policies and meet quotas, or 2) you are highly involved and listen to every employee need and concern so that they can get the most done possible for your business.
Looking at the first extreme, we can see that, in every job scenario, there is a minimum set of expectations that a manager must meet:
- Job training: A worker must know how to do their job before they actually do it.
- Tools to do the job: For example, the team requires functioning workstations in order to work properly.
- A working environment that fosters productivity: Is your office optimized for productivity, or does it suffocate innovation?
- A paycheck: Is your team getting paid the agreed-upon amount for their time?
A good employee expects their employer to provide these four basic services when they show up to work. This leads to another important question: Do you provide only the minimal requirements for your team to accomplish their goals, or do you give them everything possible to help them destroy the competition?
Why ask this question? If the employee feels that they have the best tools for the job they will be motivated and work at maximum capacity allowing them to get more done. Whether or not you believe in this philosophy as an employer will quickly become apparent to your staff. If you are mostly concerned that your team is meeting quotas in a timely manner, you might feel that they don’t need any additional support to perform their jobs properly; when in reality, they might be struggling.
However, if you go out of your way to improve the productivity of your staff, you might find that the benefits far outweigh the costs. This means creating quality working environments for your team, giving them the tools they need to optimize workflow, and paying them salaries that are commensurate with their skills. This might sound like a lot of effort, but by showing your team that you believe in their potential, they’ll be far more likely to work harder and produce higher quality work. This leads to more profits, which increases your bottom line.
Increasing workplace productivity doesn’t necessarily have to be a challenge. It requires taking responsibility for the work that your team produces. Understand what motivates each individual and what tools they would prefer for their work. Ask them what changes they would like to see integrated into your organization allowing them to perform their job better.
These discussions might shed some light on how your team functions, and what you can do to get the most productivity out of each of them. Maybe they work better using their own devices instead of the bulky workstation they’re provided with. Or, perhaps the current workplace doesn’t mesh with their individual work habits. For example, introverts might not appreciate the open office environment, and might get more done working at home than in the office. Or, perhaps the extrovert finds the cubicle environment suffocating and would prefer the open office.
Whatever information you find out about your staff, you can be sure that you’ll be able to apply it to the workplace to help them to accomplish the most work within their scheduled time in the office. However, this is a benefit that isn’t going to produce itself. You have to take the initiative to help them achieve their best.
Understand, if you’ve never really considered asking your team about the state of their workflow using their current tools, you might not realize that their productivity is suffering. If they are struggling to accomplish their goals because they do not have the resources they need, their morale will be low, which isn’t good for anybody. If this is the case, it’s time to step up and get your team whatever it needs to be productive. The profits will make up for the expense.
If you have too much on your plate to perform these tasks, outsource them to Quikteks. We can make sure that your team is operating with the best tools available. They will quickly understand the benefits that the latest technology can bring to the workplace. We can also integrate mobile technology that’s designed to help your team accomplish their daily tasks remotely, and our professional IT technicians can troubleshoot and resolve problems with your company’s workstations to ensure they function properly.
If you’re ready to learn more about how you can increase the performance of your staff with technology, give Quikteks a call at 973 882 4644.