Productivity is something we all define a little differently. Working through and completing a to-do list. Finishing a project and starting another. Making steady progress on work tasks and always having something new to deliver to the boss.
These are all common ways to showcase productivity, and when your business is boosted by them, you can rest easy knowing you’ve put together a self motivated, interested, and driven team.
But even with all this progress, your business can still suffer from productivity drains. If your goals have to be regularly readjusted or your staff experiences quite a low workplace satisfaction, it’s clear something is going wrong down your productivity chain!
The hard part, however, is identifying what’s going wrong and where. If you’re finding it difficult to pinpoint the drains in your business, take on the list below.
The Productivity Drains In Your Business
Micromanagement Can Be a Killer
Do you ever feel the urge to jump in and take over? It’s a common thing for bosses all over the world! When you’re the one who heads up the business and you have a clear idea about what needs to happen and how it can be difficult to take a step back.
If this behavior becomes chronic, however, it’s known as micromanagement. Not only will this kill your own productivity – as you’ll never be able to focus on your own tasks (or have time to) – but it’ll ensure none of your employees are able to do their best work either.
They either won’t care to, as you’ll just come in and change it all anyway, or they’ll think you’re a bad person to work for and leave as soon as they come in. A high employee turnover is definitely a sign of a powerful productivity drain!
Check with an Algorithm
Algorithms are in use all over the world, from Google rankings to social media to the programs Netflix recommends that are based on your past behavior. Algorithms are everywhere and they’re used to great effect!
You can also use the same software within your own business. Indeed, you can use software to track your data products. What are data products? It’s a term used to describe any data that your company collects, including customer and employee behavior. That’s an invaluable insight to have, and if you can get this data all in one place, you won’t have to go back and forth for it.
This will cut out most of the hard work for you and will automate the research progress and provide you with a lot more hard facts to work on. You can then highlight the things that need smoothing out the most, in terms of making your workplace more efficient, and you may even be surprised about what’s really going wrong.
Don’t Schedule Too Many Meetings
Too many meetings and you’ll simply be ripping people out of their desk chairs and forcing them into a room for something that really ‘could have just been an email’! It’s not just a meme that’s going around social media, it’s a real concept that more business owners should take to heart!
You schedule too many meetings and you’re never going to see meaningful gains from your team. They’re not going to have time to get on with their work and ensure a high-quality output. They’ll be too busy preparing for the meeting, or having to find time in their schedule to head out to an emergency one! Keep the meetings short, sweet, and rare enough that people are always ready for them.
Get Feedback From Your Employees
And finally, if you really want to know what’s working and what isn’t, talk to your employees. Let them know it’s OK, to be honest, and there will be no repercussions on them; sometimes we don’t speak up at work as we think it’s going to reflect badly back on us.
Make sure everyone has the chance to have their say, and once you’ve gotten all of your responses, see where the common themes are. That’s where something needs to change, and hopefully as soon as possible!
Every business owner is worried about productivity. However, productivity drains exist in every business, some small and some large! It’s not a unique problem and won’t ever be something we get rid of entirely.
Figuring them out is the first step, but once you’ve isolated the issue, make sure you iron it out and institute something supportive to keep your team on top form all year round.
