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8 Steps to Follow for a More Efficient and Productive Team

Feb 17, 2023 • 8 min read

Business owners are always looking for ways to improve efficiency, save time and money and supercharge productivity. These are 8 steps you can follow to create a productive and efficient team!

Productivity is really just an assessment of the amount of work your team is able to complete within their assigned hours. How much are they able to get done during office hours? Are they doing enough? Is there something holding them back from achieving more? These are all questions you need to ask yourself before increasing efficiency in your workplace.

According to research from the Microsoft Work Trend Index, 73% of employees want flexible remote options to stay in place. And self-assessed employees reported that their productivity either remained the same or increased to 82% over the last year. These are our 8 steps you can follow to improve your team’s efficiency in and out of the office!

Step 1: Give your employees the tools they need!

It is extremely important that your team has access to the tools, technology, platforms, and resources they need to complete their tasks. Having limited access to optimal features and using basic plans and free trials that expire can all be very limiting and increasingly frustrating for your team. You don’t have to go all out and pay for the most expensive/premium packages, but you do need to make sure your employees are not struggling to do their job because they don’t have access to what they need. Ask your team what they need, check your subscription expiry dates, and try out the platforms/technology yourself to see how smoothly or not so smoothly it works! If your team works remotely, do they have a fast-processing computer? Do they have stable Wi-Fi and a backup generator for power failures? Having adequate office equipment is just as essential to your team’s success and efficiency.

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Step 2: Streamline communication!

Having an “open door” policy for your team is ideal especially when you have an in-house team, they should feel encouraged to speak freely and have open access to their managers. If your team members cannot communicate freely with you, their managers, and each other, this can be detrimental to your efficiency. You need to have a reliable communication channel in place to ensure employees are working, know what to do, and can ask questions whenever they’re unsure. When implementing communication tools and channels for your business it’s important to understand what would work best for you and what fits your company’s culture and goals the best. Experiment with different channels until you find what works best! Using software and apps like Slack, Zoom, Virtual Offices, and Loom can be a huge help for connecting your team, delegating tasks, sharing resources, and keeping your remote team connected. Research from the Pew Research Centre suggests that 81% of employed adults who are working from home have used Zoom or Webex for virtual communication and meetings. Face-to-face meetings or virtual calls are always a great way to communicate directly with each other but often can be really time-consuming and long-winded so before setting up a call or meeting, ask yourself “could this have been an email”?

Step 3: Set achievable goals, targets, and KPIs

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are basically a way for businesses to measure how efficiently members and the company overall are achieving the business objectives they’ve set. KPIs make sure your team is aligned with your company’s goals and help you identify which areas need improvement. It’s really important that the goals you set for your team are realistic and achievable (they need something to work toward and keep them motivated!). While it’s great to think big and have big goals, having unattainable goals can be demotivating for your team and discourage productivity. However, smaller, more realistic goals can be extremely rewarding and boost your team’s confidence!

Step 4: Work on your team culture!

Having a positive team culture in place is crucial to having healthy, happy, and productive employees. A study conducted by the Department of Economics at the University of Warwick shows that happy workers are 12% more productive than the average worker. In comparison, unhappy workers are reportedly 10% less productive. The first thing you can do to improve your team culture is to show empathy for your team – try to acknowledge their personal and physical struggles and encourage self-care. The second thing is actively listening to your team – Allow them to speak freely and openly without interruptions, and take actionable steps to address their concerns. The third thing is creating connections with your team – Make them feel supported and at ease at work. Try to encourage casual conversations, fun activities, team-building activities, and friendships within the team. Having a happy and fulfilled team has proven time and time again to result in a productive and efficient team!

woman working remotely as a virtual assistant

Step 5: Provide ongoing training and upskilling!

Your goals, targets, and expectations constantly change and evolve when you’re a business owner and your team has to keep up with these changes. The best way to keep your team “on top of things” and constantly updated is to provide them with ongoing training and upskilling. Nothing kills productivity more than a lack of ‘know-how’ and providing hands-on training is the best way to intervene. Using specialized software is an incredibly useful and efficient way to train your employees, for instance, Loom and Vidyard are amazing for creating training videos that allow you to verbally and visually explain tasks. Creating training materials like SOPs and presentations is not only super detailed and easy to follow but also allows your team to learn at their own pace. These learning materials can be especially helpful for new employees, and while the process of creating these resources can be time-consuming, they can be reused constantly and seriously improve your overall training, upskilling, and employee efficiency!

Step 6: Provide regular feedback to your team!

The first step you need to tackle when providing feedback is actually recording, tracking, and evaluating your team’s progress. It’s very important that you update and assess their monthly KPIs and have an overall understanding of your team’s goals and targets. Ask yourself these three questions: 1. Are their tasks being completed every day? 2. Are they able to complete these tasks with skill and ease? 3. What do they need to improve? Once you have this information, you need to start giving feedback. You can try to include giving real-time commentary while they complete their tasks. You can also try conducting either monthly or quarterly performance reviews or even a weekly check-in call where you ask them how their tasks are going, what they’re struggling with, and what they need to improve. When delivering your feedback, it is important to note that it should be achievement-oriented, fair and accurate, and developmental. End your feedback sessions by asking what you as the employer can do to improve.

Step 7: Delegate to your managers and team leaders!

Having a good support system and people you can trust to get things consistently moving is VERY important. This is why it’s crucial that you choose a trustworthy and reliable management team. Your management team should essentially be “on top of everything” making sure the work gets done on time, deadlines are met, and your team are meeting their goals. Having someone for your team to directly report to is great for accountability and maintaining efficiency. Not only does this give members of your team an opportunity to learn leadership skills, but it also shows that you trust them and are willing to reward good work!

Step 8: Listen to what your team wants!

Global Workplace Analytics shows that 80% of employees prefer to work from home and can save them up to $4,000 a year when working remotely. While remote work might not be for everyone and every business, it’s hard to deny the impact its had over the last few years. Working remotely not only financially benefits businesses (fewer overhead costs, not having to pay travel/living allowances) but also gives employees a lot more flexibility. Over 65% of employees believe working from home would improve their productivity and overall work-life balance. Your team can save time on commuting, take fewer sick days, and have the pressure of “micromanagement” taken off them. Building a remote team can be a whole other challenge but there are so many benefits to taking on remote workers as you have access to the global talent pool. DigiWorks is a platform that offers a weeklong free trial for building your remote team and has thousands of highly vetted candidates to choose from. DigiWorks makes the whole hiring, onboarding, and feedback process extremely efficient, quick, and easy. The platform takes care of your team’s check-ins, and payroll and essentially works as a huge time-saver for you and your business. You can check out some of the candidates here.

So, if you’ve been wanting to improve your efficiency and have a much more productive team, these 8 steps are a great way to get you on the right track.

Ready to build your remote team?

Use the DigiWorks platform to hire, manage, and pay remote talent from all over the world.

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About DigiWorks

DigiWorks is an easy-to-use platform that helps small businesses and start ups hire amazing remote talent from around the world. DigiWorks offers a way for you to hire, manage and pay people from all countries. If you find an amazing virtual assistant from Philippines, a content writer from Nigeria, or operations manager from South Africa – manage and pay your entire team from one platform with no hassle.