If you are a department manager, then you may find that your boss is often yelling at you about your team’s productivity. Before you quit or throw up your hands in despair, follow these tips to help solve team productivity issues in your area. You and your boss will be much happier, and you may find a bonus or promotion coming your way.
Bring Your Own Device
It is important to be able to communicate with your employees, so let them bring their own devices (BYOD). Then, encourage them to keep on task by setting up times when they can watch company provided entertainment on those devices. When employees use a device that they are comfortable with using, then they do not have to slow down to learn a new device. This allows them to get up to speed faster when onboarding or stay up to speed when working on projects with others.
Train Employees
You cannot reasonably expect a person to complete a task that they have not been trained to do productively. Therefore, create a list of all the tasks that your employees need to know how to do. Put those tasks on a spreadsheet. Then, train them to do each one. That way, you know that they have received proper training to make a productive contribution to the organization.
Provide Support
As a department manager, you need to be a support system standing behind your employees. Make sure that they have efficient equipment that they need to complete their tasks. Be a sounding board where employees feel that they can ask questions and get sound advice. Make sure that your employees have the opportunity to enjoy a good life-work balance. If one of your team has a death or other family emergency, then make sure that you are there because they will come back more productive when they know you care.
Be a Role Model
If you are not being productive yourself, then it can be difficult to expect your team to be productive. Monitor your own activities as everyone tends to get lazy at times. Become a cheerleader when you see your team doing a great job because it will make them want to try even harder. Stick up for your team with senior management when needed even if you are shut down.
As a department manager, building a productive team can be a hard task. Following these tips and using your own ingenuity is a great place to start.
Lizzie Weakley is a freelance writer from Columbus, Ohio. She went to college at The Ohio State University where she studied communications. In her free time, she enjoys the outdoors and long walks in the park with her 3-year-old husky Snowball.