Fighting stagnant productivity
We change our vehicle's oil, our toothbrushes and our seasonal decorations. But what about looking at potential changes in the way our team collaborates at work? Is it enough to keep plugging along and say the system is working well? Here are a few questions to ask and tasks to implement to ensure you and your colleagues are working together as productively as possible.
Figure out if the team has become too isolated. Colleagues in a certain department or working on a certain project need to bond, of course. But they also must connect adequately with partners in the rest of the organization as well. Mario Moussa and Derek Newberry say smart managers don't ignore water-cooler talk. “Ninety percent of the information a top team uses to make decisions comes through informal channels rather than formal reports,” they say in an article at Entrepreneur.com. Folks in other departments just might have winning perspectives on an issue where your team is operating with a blind spot. You have to communicate and then pay attention to reap the benefit.
Eradicate motivation killers. Inc.com's John Boitnott lists these as: a lack of worker appreciation, toxic people, abrasive personalities and autocratic management styles, among others. There are many ways to cope. Policies against toxic behavior can be established, for instance. And there are many creative ways to show employee appreciation, one in particular won't cost you a thing — just visit their cubicle and say, “Thank you.”
Don't ignore modern work trends. Companies are losing valuable knowledge and talent by ignoring a need for mobility, flexible hours and evolving technology, says Tony Lopresti, CEO of Intellinote, at Wired.com. “Having the most successful and flexible tools and policies for the future workplace will become increasingly important for staff retention and for keeping those employees happy, collaborative and productive,” he writes.
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