Increasing productivity has always been a parallel goal for companies alongside the pursuit of increasing profits because the more productive employees are, the sooner commercial objectives will be achieved. However, the process to reach a certain level of ideal productivity is not simple, as the improvement curve is generally not upward once the practices are initiated, but it undergoes constant plateaus where even periods of low productivity may return.
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There is a prevalent feeling in most organizations that it is very difficult to sustain good habits to increase productivity over time. This happens because with each new practice, the firm purpose of change must accompany it. But the change cannot rely solely on the employees but on the entire organization. If the same commitment to change habits does not reside from the top levels, there will always be delays and inefficiencies at some point in the process, generating a domino effect.
In other articles, we have shared various practices to improve productivity, such as setting daily goals, reducing the number of meetings, allocating time to each task, taking breaks, avoiding procrastination, etc. But at this point, we aim to thread a bit more finely, trying to adjust the purpose of these practices to transform them into everyday habits. In this article, we have made a selection of 6 best habits to increase productivity, involving the entire organization.
Improving productivity definitively is possible, you just have to focus on what you want to achieve and maintain it over time, understanding that the effort of change is worth it. Let's see what these improvement habits are.
In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was a Corinthian king who was punished by Hades to transport a huge rock to the top of a hill, but it always rolled down the slope, so Sisyphus had to repeat the same operation with the same result. Imagine being part of this myth and having to repeat the same task every day of your life with little variation. Wouldn't that also be a punishment for you?
Avoid assigning your employees the same tasks all the time, or they will become increasingly unproductive. The repetition of the same activity will end up demotivating them, and if their situation does not change, they may decide to seek new horizons. Do you suppose they are not ready for new challenges? If you don't try, you'll never know. Learning new skills and tasks increases motivation and work commitment, which positively impacts an increase in productivity.
2. Adding value to people's work to motivate them more.
Alright, you managed to change your employees' routine and yours too. Now the next step is to make those tasks add value to the company. How does what I do influence achieving the goals? How can I do it better? If in addition to assuming new challenges, these can determine the fate of a business, the individual and collective effort of people will be even greater. Learning to manage an automation tool to streamline the lead nurturing process can significantly increase the conversion rate.
3. Implementing non-linear schedules or taking regular breaks.
Another good practice to increase productivity is to implement non-linear schedules. This means breaking the fixed schedule of 8 straight hours, where only time is cut for lunch. A non-linear schedule is managing your time according to your needs and those of your employees, taking advantage of the times of the day when people are most productive. Many times, forcing employees to comply with a fixed schedule in such a hectic and busy time can be counterproductive due to the stress it causes.
Pretending that all people are the same and will respond productively at a certain time is a mistake. Generally, people who perform better in the early morning, in the afternoon decrease their performance. On the contrary, people who are more nocturnal than diurnal are activated in the afternoon or evening, while during the morning they are less productive. Bearing this in mind, divide the most important tasks to be performed at the most productive times for each person.
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4. Using the calendar to schedule workload at a specific time.
Once you have all the workload correctly distributed, set deadlines to carry them out. Make sure all your employees use the Google calendar tool, both to schedule meetings and to keep a record of tasks to be performed in the weekly time frame. This way, you can adjust your activities and those of others to that plan without any interference with each other's activities. It will also allow you to manage your own and your team's times, if they work remotely, and for all members of the organization to have visibility of each other's calendar.
5. Classifying tasks in order of priority.
You already have the workload delimited for each of your team members, you started applying non-linear schedules, and everyone is using the calendar properly. The next step now is to prioritize tasks in order of importance. Then, the tasks that are crucial to obtain a commercial result will be those that are put first. Then will follow those that have a moderate priority but should not be postponed. Finally, tasks that are not at all urgent can be postponed or stopped, although without forgetting about them.
6. Avoid multitasking by completing one task at a time.
"The more you take on, the less you squeeze," goes another popular saying, so doing multiple tasks at once was never a good idea and is not at all productive. When you try to solve many issues together, you generally end up not solving anything, and instead, you waste valuable time with the same amount of unfinished tasks. And if you manage to conclude some tasks in the process, they probably won't be resolved with the maturity that if you give them full dedication.
To avoid this, focus all your attention and concentration on one task until you finish it. Then you can start another, complete it, and so on until you finish the entire daily process. Your team will be less stressed when they internalize this habit in their routine.
<<<Causas de baja en la productividad>>>
In summary, the best way to increase productivity is to avoid the same cycle of repetitive tasks in certain operational functions, learn to prioritize important tasks that add value, implement non-linear schedules, use the calendar effectively, and break away from multitasking for good. These habits, of course, are not incorporated overnight and must be an exercise of the entire organization together, so that it does not remain an attempt that, impossible to maintain, falls apart after a few months. Instead, with discipline, commitment, and motivation, these habits should become part of your company's know-how.