My Employees Taught Me These 5 Lessons on Productivity

Every institution is keen to maximize worker productivity, arsenic it straight translates to amended business results. As such, productivity is often viewed arsenic thing activity has to manage.

Typically, this manifests successful various top-down initiatives and rules — executives get inspired by nan latest productivity inclination aliases investigation and are speedy to jump connected nan bandwagon, implementing it crossed their organization.

Anyone who has gone done this process (including myself) will show you that it seldom works. Why? Because productivity techniques and methods are almost ne'er a one-size-fits-all solution. Productivity is simply a highly individual and context-dependent facet of activity that varies from personification to personification and domiciled to role.

So, alternatively than enforce immoderate broad thought of what productivity must look like, I judge entrepreneurs should return nan clip to observe and understand nan moving patterns of their teams and respond accordingly by engaging pinch nan individuals and catering to their strengths.

That's what I did — and present are 5 things I learned astir productivity from my employees.

Related: Why Greece's Six-Day Workweek Might Backfire connected Productivity

1. Different group thrive astatine different times of nan day

I'm an early riser, and successful my formative years, I was taught that it's a cardinal trait of a difficult worker. It's still a celebrated communicative that you'll spot plastered everyplace — from LinkedIn posts to inspirational posters.

But nan truth is that people's productivity peaks astatine different times of nan day, and while I mightiness beryllium astatine my champion astatine 9 am, others whitethorn get astir done successful nan day erstwhile I americium moving retired of juice.

That's why I promote each entrepreneur who tin to usage flexible moving hours, namely, allowing squad members to take erstwhile they commencement and extremity their workday. In our case, group tin commencement anytime from 9 to 11 a.m., and it has had a affirmative effect not only connected wide productivity but besides connected worker satisfaction.

Forcing group into unnatural moving patterns conscionable doesn't make sense.

2. Peak imaginative hours? Lunchtime

At DeskTime, we connection free luncheon successful nan office, truthful nan canteen is 1 of nan fewer places wherever nan squad regularly comes together. Work is seldom nan main taxable of discussion, but erstwhile it does travel up, challenges get tackled successful a acold much imaginative and candid measurement than successful immoderate gathering room.

Of course, it's not because of nan nutrient itself but alternatively nan informal mounting shared pinch nan extended team. No hierarchy, nary etiquette, and nary unit mean ideas that mightiness get stifled successful a gathering tin travel retired unabridged — and they're often precisely what's needed to make headway pinch a existent challenge.

In different words, location are galore ways to maximize productivity, and arsenic a squad leader, you should guarantee that productivity flourishes successful each imaginable avenues.

Related: 5 Insights I Learned While Growing My Business from a Startup to a 500-person Company

3. Clear expectations lead to higher productivity

Productivity astatine activity is nan effective usage of clip to resoluteness a challenge. So, it's nary astonishment that if labor person to walk a important magnitude of clip figuring retired nan tasks astatine hand, past productivity suffers. Simply put, if labor don't understand their tasks, they can't do them effectively.

Hence, 1 of nan biggest squad productivity boosters is strong activity paired pinch clear communication. When everyone is aligned connected goals and expectations and afloat equipped to execute them, nan travel of activity becomes overmuch smoother.

No matter really overmuch you attraction connected individual performance, you won't beryllium capable to elevate it if nan underlying strategy is broken.

4. Regular breaks boost productivity

I learned this from my squad complete a decade agone erstwhile I observed that nan group who spell for java each hour, play foosball, and mostly return breaks execute conscionable arsenic well—if not better—than those who don't.

Today, nan subject down the worth of taking breaks is good established. We moreover did a study astatine DeskTime that revealed that nan astir productive group activity for 52 minutes and past return a 17-minute break, which led america to coin nan viral 52/17 rule.

Despite this, I still regularly brushwood business leaders hellbent connected maximizing productivity by maximizing clip spent astatine nan computer. That's conscionable not really humans work.

Related: 5 Essential Things Leaders Can Learn From Their Employees

5. Be observant successful choosing nan devices you use

Virtually each portion of business package promises much businesslike moving methods that should lead to amended productivity. It's easy to get caught up successful nan hype, perpetually reimagining workflows and fantasizing astir really you'll leverage exertion to lick productivity and different challenges.

Don't get maine incorrect — that's precisely what a leader should do. But ever retrieve that your extremity is to minimize overhead and clash for your employees.

It takes clip to study devices and resources and merge them into existing systems. Also, while nan instrumentality mightiness return attraction of immoderate processes for nan employees, nan labor now person to return attraction of nan tool. Sometimes, it's a tradeoff that only looks bully connected insubstantial — if nan labor dislike utilizing something, it mightiness backfire nary matter really overmuch fat it trims off.

In different words, getting nan team's input connected whether this productivity-boosting exertion is really boosting productivity is ever worthwhile. And if not — wantonness it.