Every individual in the workplace plays a vital role in helping the organization reach its goals and move forward successfully. This is especially true when it comes to teams that have been tasked with taking on specific work. However, a team and those who form it are only as effective as the systems and processes in place that are designed to keep them on track. Are you the head of a team looking to boost your team’s productivity? If so, here are five simple ways to keep your team on track.
1. Help your employees gain project management certification.
One of the easiest ways to keep people on your team on the right path is to have a certified project manager as part of your company. Project management comes in a lot of different “flavors,” so to speak, and having someone who has trained in the organizational and strategic aspects of project management can be a major boon for any business. If you have a few team members who already act as project managers just due to their organizational skills, setting them up in a free PMP prep course can help prepare them to get certified. Project management courses can be completed with an online course, so you can have a certified project manager on your team even during the COVID-19 pandemic. With a PMP certification, not only will they be better-suited to lead teams and projects, but they’ll also gain a wide range project management skills to help your business run more smoothly.
2. Use a goal-setting system that’s proven to work.
Part of getting your team on the same page and accomplishing goals comes down to making sure everyone understands how their role fits into achieving those aims. As such, using a goal-setting framework can be a valuable way to align everyone on your team with your overall priorities as a company. One way to do this is by defining your businesses Objectives and Key Results (OKRs). OKR frameworks were pioneered by two of the founders of Google to help streamline projects by clearly defining goals and desired outcomes. If you’re new to OKRs, a software platform like WorkBoard can help you identify, track, and measure what OKRs matter to your company. WorkBoard provides a great tool for defining best practices and helping everyone stay on the same page regardless of whether they’re working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
3. Practice clear communication.
As you can see, clarity is important if you want to keep your team on track. Breakdowns in communication can happen quite frequently depending on the mode of communication you’re using, so it’s always a good idea to practice active listening when attending in-person meetings and re-read your emails before you send them to avoid sowing unnecessary confusion. Beyond that, it might even make sense to invest in a communication platform like Slack which makes it easier to search up and thread different conversations in a much more dynamic way than email allows.
4. Be clear in your expectations.
If you have team members working remotely, it’s crucial that you communicate your expectations with them. For example, some employees may think that as long as they work eight hours each day, it doesn’t matter if they’re working early in the morning or late at night. While this can work for some companies, in other industries, not being accessible during traditional work hours can really bog things down. Make sure that everyone knows what’s expected of them in terms of being reachable during the remote workweek to avoid any unnecessary confusion.
5. Have a weekly check-in meeting.
Checking in with your team on a regular basis is a great way to understand how things are going. For example, when you have frequent updates, it’s much easier to alter schedules or deadlines based on conditions “on the ground.” This can keep your team on track by maintaining realistic expectations and accurately addressing any obstacles in real-time.
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