Work days are usually 8 hours long, or even longer when you are a personal injury accident lawyer. But then again, 8 is just a number that employers have dictated. While your employees may be seated in front of a computer looking busy, are they being productive? It is not surprising that workers have become less productive today than they were 10 years ago.
We can attribute that to the emergence of social media or lack of ambition, but there are a few pertinent issues that can be solved internally to boost productivity.
Listen and Learn
While some leaders believe in the “spare the rod, spoil the child” approach, it may not work in an office environment. Adults, unlike children, will need engagement. Productivity has been seen to increase by up to 32% when management and the team is engaged more. You will benefit from your team when you listen to views in meetings, seek their opinions, and basically treat them as equals or close. In return, they will reciprocate with loyalty and hard work, knowing that they do matter.
Lead By Example
As leader of the pack, you will be expected to know the ins and outs of the organizations. Your team will respect you when you exude leadership. Don’t be afraid to delegate and watch them own the roles you hired them for. Additionally, attitude is everything. If you develop the habit of bringing your employees down in front of the entire team, you cause them to lose the respect of their juniors which sabotages their ability to work effectively.
Show Interest In Their Development
Most employees are stuck on their day jobs. They hate showing up to their offices each morning, but bills have to be paid, and so they end up spending half the day surfing the net. If you want to light that fire up, show interest in their development. You can start by spending on continued learning where they go for training that involves their line of work.
You can also encourage them to enroll in online courses to build skills. While this may not necessarily be in their line of work, those new skills could earn them a promotion. When your employee feels more competent in their role, the organization benefits from their renewed energy.
Keep It Fresh
The human brain is complex enough to learn something new and to grow in different fields. Accounting is boring and repetitive, and most accountants are accused of being poor communicators. How about encouraging them to move to different departments within the organization to expand their knowledge?
If you run a law firm, encourage the supporting team to be conversant with their rights or some bits of the Constitution. The idea is to get everyone all-rounded so that they can be clear on the role that their counterparts play. You will have a more cohesive team, and June (the accountant) will benefit immensely from working in the communications department for a while.
