5 Ways to Boost the Productivity of Underperforming Teams
Have you noticed that your team’s performance isn’t quite hitting the mark? Maybe morale is low and they aren't meeting deadlines or the quality of their work product is falling short of expectations.
Unfortunately underperforming teams are a fairly common issue. But the good news is that you can turn things around and boost their productivity as long as you know how:
1. Clarify Expectations
Vague goals and expectations can tank productivity - which is why the first thing you should do is clarify them. It is important to be specific and outline clear goals, deadlines and deliverables that are preferably measurable so your team knows exactly what they need to do.
2. Use Employee Monitoring
Employee monitoring software such as Controlio can help in several ways. It will track attendance, work hours, and employee activity - and promote accountability by doing so. On top of that it will also give you a way to measure productivity so you can monitor trends and observe the impact of any steps you take to improve performance levels.
The insights into employee activity that Controlio provides can help you to pinpoint issues that may be causing your teams to perform badly such as workflow bottlenecks, underutilized resources, or workload imbalances. It can also identify any time wastage and block apps or websites that are responsible for it.
3. Improve Morale
Low-morale can kill productivity, and if you feel the vibes are off you should try various ways to improve them. Start by recognizing good work and achievements, celebrating successes, and maybe even small bonding sessions that can build connections such as team lunches and virtual games.
4. Communicate Frequently and Consistently
Breakdowns in communication can result in employees working at cross purposes. The best way to fix this is to communicate frequently, with short daily or weekly meetings that align your entire team and make sure they’re working towards the same goals.
Be sure these meetings are lean, structured, and purposeful - so they don’t end up dragging on and wasting time.
5. Balance Workload Distribution Fairly
If workloads aren’t distributed evenly it can cause a lot of stress, demotivate employees, and lead to burnout. The data from employee monitoring can help you to spot whether or not workloads are balanced, and you can then use that data to redistribute them if necessary.
Ultimately your goal should be to make sure that every team member has a workload that they’re able to handle - no more, and no less.
As you can see, boosting the productivity of underperforming teams is all about identifying the root causes and then tackling them. By taking the lead and setting up a system that supports employees, as well as keeps them engaged, motivated, and accountable - you can put them on the path to success.
Don’t expect performance levels to increase overnight. Instead, pay close attention and constantly tweak key areas and you’ll see a slow but sure improvement that will gradually lift your team and maybe even help them to outperform your expectations