Working in a team is not easy. Among other things, it requires careful planning, skilled team management, and impeccable execution. Without these things, teams can become incredibly unproductive, leading to projects failing and loss of money. 

In this post, we’ll discuss several methods business teams can use to boost productivity and facilitate both short-term and long-term team effectiveness and success.

Ensure the Team Leader is Using Proper Delegation Methods

One of the most important things a leader can do when leading a business team is delegate tasks both efficiently and effectively. Delegating tasks does not mean a manager is lazy. Indeed, every high-performing team is led by an effective and efficient leader who understands how to organize and assign tasks to team members. And good managers know that employees and co-workers are often eager to be given ownership over specific tasks and responsibilities. 

Giving them these kinds of opportunities shows that you trust them, incentivizes hard work, and enables the team leader and supervisors above them to focus on big-picture goals and objectives. 

Delegating tasks also allows employees to explore and try new methods of working. This can lead to productivity gains and keep employees interested and motivated in their job (completing the same task over and over again without any level of creativity and development can get monotonous). Plus, it will enable employees to develop new skills and gain important experience that will hopefully allow them to progress in the company and eventually take on additional responsibilities and leadership roles themselves. As such, delegation is critical to building a well-rounded, efficient, and motivated workforce. 

At the same time, learning how to delegate is part of an effective approach to time management and will ensure that the team leader is not micromanaging tasks. When team leaders begin to micromanage, it wastes time and drastically reduces productivity because it slows down overall progress (after all, a team’s leadership is much smaller than the overall team) and creates bottlenecks in certain areas and tasks that need to be completed for the team and project to progress. 

Use SaaS Products to Emphasize and Facilitate Organization

Organization is critical in managing any team, especially when managing a large group. Completing a team project or task in the workplace involves setting deadlines, tracking progress, removing bottlenecks, and increasing efficiency. To do this, a team must be organized, with clear goals, objectives, and due dates in mind when working. 

There are numerous software products and tech-based tools that teams can use these days. SaaS products, like Slack, Trello, Monday.com, and Smartsheet.com provide platforms through which teams (and even entire organizations) can communicate and collaborate. Team leaders and employees can set deadlines, monitor progress, and provide updates through these platforms. They essentially serve as a digital headquarters. You can even use multiple platforms at once since they all have different features. Exploring these platforms and trying a mix of them can help you find the right overall organization method and strategy for your team and your business. 

These platforms also enable businesses to develop work from home programs since employees can have timely and effective communication from any place. 

Prioritize Getting to Know Each Team Member on a Personal Level

Building a good and productive team requires camaraderie and trust among team members. When team members get to know each other on a personal level, they learn each other’s strengths and become invested in the success of one another, both of which boost overall productivity. 

When team members know each other’s strengths, they know who to turn to when they need help or need a specific task completed that they cannot handle. This saves time and boosts team performance because employees don’t have to search for others who might take on the task or help them with it. Instead, they can easily pass on the task or ask for assistance while at the same time being fully confident that the person they are reaching out to will be able to help them and provide the proper guidance and support.

Plus, when team members form friendships and become invested in the success of one another, they are more willing to go the extra mile to help each other out. They are happy to provide both guidance and assistance to their team members when they need it – even if providing such assistance is not technically part of their work. 

Overall, it creates a responsive team full of individuals who are willing to adapt to the project’s changing needs, picking up the slack where needed and providing assistance to one another when necessary to achieve a common goal.

There are many ways to boost team camaraderie and help team members get to know one another. Having mixers after work, planning team lunches, and hosting end-of-project parties or celebrations can help employees get to know one another in an informal setting where they can spend time together and discuss other things besides work. These events can pay dividends on account of the impact they can have on employees and their morale. After all, what employee wouldn’t be happy with a company-sponsored (and paid for) lunch? 

Maintain the Right Work Environment

The work environment can have a massive impact on overall team productivity. Let’s be honest. Nobody wants to work in a dark, dingy cubicle that isolates them from natural light and their co-workers. Businesses have made incredible strides over the last decade in improving the workplace atmosphere and environment, emphasizing natural light, plants, and open-air workspaces. These environments boost employee morale, facilitate productivity, and foster team member interactions and communication (which we already discussed as being incredibly important!).

Don’t let your workplace fall behind the trend. If your office is still outdated, consider remodeling and taking into account the new, modern designs that thousands of businesses across the United States are adopting and implementing. This will not only boost productivity and employees’ emotional and mental health, but it will also help attract new talent.

Additionally, part of maintaining the proper work environment includes cleaning it properly. Insufficient cleaning practices can really damage your business and hurt productivity. Employees want to know that their employers care about them and their health, and keeping the office clean and properly sanitized is a critical component of fostering this. Plus, having a place of work that is not clean can hurt your business in other ways as well. For more information on how to maintain a clean workplace and what sorts of outside assistance is available to businesses, don’t hesitate to reach out to us here at LACOSTA. 

 

Incentivize Hard-Work Through Compensation

There are many ways to incentivize hard work, however, one of the best ways to reward employees and show that you appreciate their hard work is through promotions, bonuses, and raises. There are numerous approaches a business can take to incentivize hard work through added compensation and employee advancement opportunities. You could provide a bonus to team members if the project is a success, give the team raises when you feel they are doing an excellent job, and, most importantly, promote internally and reward team members who are working hard with additional responsibilities and commensurate compensation.

 

How Does LACOSTA Incorporate these Methods in Our Janitorial Teams?

At LACOSTA, we incorporate these tenets and productivity hacks in numerous aspects of our operation. For example, we emphasize rewarding employees for their hard work through our innovative employee recognition program. This is part of the reason our employees are able to deliver a high-quality, consistent, and cutting-edge service to our clients each and every day! In particular, we prioritize promoting from within and giving our employees ample opportunity for career advancement and development. Many of our janitorial teams have progressed from a general labor position to site and district manager positions during their time with us. The result is that all the members of our leadership know our business from the ground up – a critical component of maintaining our industry-leading services. 

Additionally, we constantly emphasize maintaining the proper working environment for our employees, and we value their safety above all else – which is why we choose our cleaning products carefully and have taken added precautions throughout the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic to keep our employees and clients safe. 

Indeed, everywhere you turn, LACOSTA uses the aforementioned methods. It’s part of why we are recommending them to you – we have seen their impact in action!