By Patrick Greene
Are your employees productive? With productive employees, your business is bound to go places in the industry. But it’s not like you’re going to even bother with this article if that were the case. You’re probably beating your head up right now trying to think of ways to get your employees to work productively. Well, it’s not always an easy task, is it?
There are only a few hours in a single day, so pleading with employees to make the most of their day isn’t the best approach. You have no choice but to put in more hours, meaning mandated overtime. Sounds legit, right? Well, it is until one day, they become even less productive because of exhaustion. This leaves you one more option: to put more hours of work again, but this time on you. You’ll end up doing the bulk of the work, but it’s not like business work is something that can be accomplished by one person. So, what’s the end product? Tired and no output. But that’s not the sort of ending you wanted, right?
Well, here’s the good news: you don’t have to do it alone. Remember that you are a company. You’re composed of your team of employees. You’re all in this together. But the question that remains is how you’re ever going to strengthen your employees. Here are some considerable tips on how to empower your employees to be productive.
Let Them Do Their Jobs
When you’re the overseer in a group, especially in companies, you’ll notice lots of lapses and lag. No one can blame you if you want to take the weight off their shoulder and decide to put extra hours of work for yourself. You’re could even be the best person to do the job. You have the necessary education and the experience, and most importantly, you can perfectly estimate what the company needs. With all the years you’ve spent to cultivate company, then why not?
But that could be just the problem. You prefer to do things on your own. You see the other staff working on their desks, but you think what they’re doing isn’t enough. You’re silently skeptic that the reports they’re submitting to your office are full of errors which you have to redo later on. Even if they show that they are working hard to please you and to be a benefit to the company, you’ll still harvest your doubts.
Employees long for the feeling of autonomy. They want to feel that they are in control of their lives, even in the workplace. Dan Pink says in his book, “Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us” that autonomy is in the top lists of human motivators. People like to think that they are capable of driving their own lives. If you want happy and productive employees, then hire good employees, give them direct instructions, and let them do their job without any interference.
Give Them Access to Information
Keeping information from your staff is like messaging them in Facebook to not do their work. I’ve said it before. You’re one company. This isn’t only a message for you. It’s also for the rest of the company staff. The only way you can convince them to work for the benefit of the company is if you make them that they are part of the company.
You don’t even have to wait for the weekly or monthly meeting before telling them what’s going on. Make use of social media. You can organize a group page on Facebook where you can post updates of what’s going on inside the company. Share with the employee’s information that’ll make them feel united with the organization.
Give Them More Authority
Going to different offices just to seek approval for a bunch of paperwork can be a drag, especially if employees already have a lot of things on their hands. You can also consider rotating job roles, so they can be cross-functional. It pays to give your employees more autonomy. When they feel that the management trusts them they’ll become more motivated to perform well in their jobs.
What tips would you add for empowering your employees to be more productive?