How to Increase Team Productivity in Times of Uncertainty
It is difficult to remain productive when each new day threatens with a new surprise, however, as Max Fry wrote, “You can’t even imagine what a person is capable of when he realized that he has no other choice.” We cannot change the post-pandemic reality, but we can change our approaches and attitudes. The same goes for your team. Here is how to make them more productive, inspired, and self-confident even if everything around is too unpredictable.
Take Your Leading Position
In times of instability, people need a confident leader like never before. You must become a source of confidence, energy, and positive strength, even if you yourself need support. You should be encouraged no matter what’s going on. For this reason, before improving team productivity, you need to improve your own one, find peace, see a clear strategy for action, develop several alternatives, and finally calm down.
Share your strategy with your team, let them feel your confidence. Confidence in you and a clear vision is already half of the employees’ engagement and productivity.
Supply Them With the Things They Lack
Many remote workers complain that they cannot perform tasks efficiently due to the lack of equipment and technology at home. And this is the first threat to productivity and the work itself.
Therefore, you need to make sure that your employees have everything they need for remote work. This applies to both hardware and software, as well as all the necessary passwords, and access codes. So, ask each member of the team what they need for effective work and supply them with it, if possible.
Adjust Your Requirements
It is unreasonable to demand the same level of sales from your team, for example, when many people are left without work and money. Moderate your expectations and make your demands appropriate to the situation.
If you press on them with the help of your authority and demand the same level of sales and profits as in normal times, you will lose your team very quickly. Even if they do not rush to leave, they will quickly lose their inspiration to work after realizing that your demands are impossible to meet. And then even employee engagement best practice will not be very useful in this case.
Establish New Communication Channels and Rules
If previously your team worked face to face, now you will have to develop new approaches to communication right on the go. In the conditions of remote work, effective and timely communication, both between team members and clients is already half the success. Therefore, you need to quickly develop several rules for effective communication which will be followed by everyone — both you and the whole team.
For example,
- replace email with instant messages
- agree to respond within 10 minutes after receiving the message
- schedule a daily Zoom meeting to summarize the day.
- Remote Employees: Tools for Collaboration
Provide Them With Their Salaries on Time
Yes, this may sound mercantile, but in the post-pandemic times, the confidence of your team members that they have money for current expenses is already half their productivity and adequate mental state. However, one also needs to look sensibly at the situation. If your business has gone up or at least remained at the same level, of course, you should either leave the salary at the same level or even increase it. But everything is a little more complicated if the company incurs losses.
In this case, you will have to negotiate, explain, apologize, and ask. And by the way, this is one of the features of strong leaders. But even if you had to lower your salary a bit (for example, for the part that employees spent on business trips and transportation), always remember that you must give it on time.
Allow Reasonable Flexibility
Modern reality proves that the time and place of work are secondary factors, while quality remains paramount. Let your teamwork as flexibly as possible, for example, due to the specifics of your customers. For example, it is not necessary to force everyone to be present from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. if some of your employees can do their job independently of others.
In addition, you can create multiple work shifts and allow your employees to alternate workdays and days of personal life. In pandemic and post-pandemic conditions, for the first time, many were faced with the need to solve personal and work problems in the multitasking mode, and, honestly, this is quite difficult.
Encourage Team Wellness and Positive Attitude
For example, organize joint sports activities online, share with your team high-quality information on how to maintain their physical fitness and mental state, and of course, be an example. This is the best way of how to boost the morale of your team, taking care of their health, and thereby productivity. Remind them that now taking care of health, both mental and physical is their core task.
Conclusion
As you can see, it is possible to support your team even in difficult times and maintain their level of productivity, as well as an adequate perception of the situation. And as always, it’s worth starting with yourself. As soon as you find your personal answers to the question of how to be an effective leader, you will immediately understand what you need to tell your team and what to do for them to get a positive response.
Written by – Jamie Fry
Purposeful and promising author.
At this moment he is working at writing services review companies, as Pick the writer and Writing Judge and enhances his blogging skills. Confidently goes to his goal. He has a talent for writing original content. The main conviction in his life: «To be the best in the field in which you are developing». Always in search of fresh ideas.
