One of the biggest complaints in businesses? Lack of time!

In fact this has almost become a cliché. There are only so many hours in the day. Full stop.  

How to manage your time and productivity

If you are a manager or responsible for your own time management at work then it is very simple, write a list, allocate time and execute.  

Yes, I know that there will be distractions but if you are clever and cunning (like I am sure you are), you will allocate time for the “unexpected”.  

Are you guilty?

Have you ever been around people who are always busy and time poor?

If so I am sure that you will agree with us that they are not conducive to creating a focused and productive workplace. Stressful, crazy and chaotic are words that come to mind. Is this the workplace you are wanting to create?

Calm, focused, productive and in control. This is what you want to achieve and it starts from the top. You need to role model the behaviours you expect from your staff. Get yourself organised, set up some good structures and use your time wisely.  

Of course even the best intended plans go a little awry at times. Just regroup, re evaluate and continue on. Isn’t this what you would want your staff to do? Do you want your staff to come across to customers as being overworked and frazzled with their workload? Of course not so why would you portray this image to your staff.

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Take a step back

If you are getting overloaded then the best thing you can do is take a step back. Prioritise, work out what can be delegated or pushed back and re organise your time with realistic time frames attached. 30 minutes of good planning time will get you back in control and make you more productive and effective in what you need to achieve.  

How to Improve Staff Productivity

For most people reading this staffing will be one of your biggest business expenses.  

The management of staff will also be one of the most time consuming and potentially frustrating aspects of your job. So what can you do to ensure that you are getting the maximum return on investment from your staffing resource.

1. Make sure that you recruit the right person for the job (you need a great interview process in place for this)
2. Ensure that staff have up to date job descriptions that clearly explains the purpose of their role and specific functions they will need to undertake
3. Provide quality on job training to staff. Be strict during this time, let them know what they need to do, to what standard and in what time frame
4. Stop bad habits early on. The longer you leave them the harder they are to change
5. Take five minutes to speak with staff individually and get them to talk through what they need to achieve through the day and how they are going to organise and prioritise their time.
6. Work out a way to measure productivity in your business that will provide quantative feedback to staff. Review these results with them often (number of sales, time taken to do tasks, number of sales calls made etc). Remember the saying “You can’t manage what you can’t measure”
7. Have Key Performance Indicators in place where possible. A word of caution with KPI’s – measuring what’s easy is rarely what’s useful to measure.   Think about your organization and write specific and measurable KPI’s for your staff.  Constantly measure staff against their KPI’s and provide support where it is needed.  Remember that your staff meeting their KPI’s will have a direct effect on your bottom line – so put the time and effort in.  
8. Implement robust systems and processes that will assist staff in being more productive.  No not reams of paperwork and policies about policies.  Have some standardised processes in place to ensure that your service delivery is consistent.  Think McDonalds.  There is a reason they are so successful.  
9. Identify where there are low levels of productivity in your business and get to the root cause of why this is happening.  
10. Implement a formal performance management plan for staff who are not performing at the required levels of productivity.  

As the manager you are responsible for the productivity of your staff. Review the list above and identify what actions you need to take.

All burnt out?

It’s a fact that when we are tired and burnt out our ability to be effective in the workplace decreases. Productivity drops, our time management goes to pieces and even just deciding what to wear to work feels like a chore.  

If this is happening to you or any of your staff then it is time to re energise and reset before falling into a downward spiral of negativity.

Below are some strategies to assist you in these situations:

• Take a holiday (even a long weekend will do wonders for your energy levels).  
• Change is as good as a holiday  - take on a different project, swap job roles around, move the office space around – create positive energy.
• Organise a work get together or team building activity. If done correctly this will built comradeship and refocus and reenergise the team.  
• Remember that you lead the team.  Staff will mimic your behaviours.  Negativity breeds negativity.  

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Do you need an HR audit or review of productivity in your business? Give Phoebe or Rebecca a call today, “effective staff management” is our speciality.

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