Boost Your Team’s Efficiency With These Tips

Teamwork is one of the most important parts of just about any job, because one way or another, we will find ourselves working alongside others in some aspect. Without a properly functioning team, the work becomes tedious, the days long, and the efficiency of your work takes a nosedive into the red zone. So what can we do to keep the team afloat? What things need to be done to make sure every member of the team is putting out exactly what they need to — and doing it happily? Here are some five tips on how to improve team efficiency.

Whose job is it, anyway? While it may take the entire team to work on a project, there needs to be some kind of “job assignment”, so things can get done effectively, rather than everyone picking on the portion of the project they want to work on and avoiding all the others. The team leader needs to portion tasks out fairly, but also take into consideration the team members’ passions and strengths, as well as weaknesses.

It’s about strengths AND weaknesses. Knowing each and every team members’ strong points is one thing; it might just lead you down the right path for a great outcome, but without knowing what they struggle with, you’re putting the team at risk of faltering. Delegating jobs based on not only their skills, but also the things they struggle with, if the best way to get your task or tasks done without many hiccups.

Communication!!! Yes, that definitely deserves three exclamation points, because without communication, you cannot function as a team. It’s just not possible. There are hundreds of ways to communicate with your team, and unless you want to watch the chaos descend upon your project, then you need to utilize at least one of them.

Use incentives. The hard truth is that people tend to work happier, faster, and better when there are incentives involved. Think up rewards, even if it’s just something like “if this gets done early, then you can all go home early, too.”

Be a good example for your team members. As a team leader, your teammates will mimic your behavior when it comes to approaching their project. Should you face something with a negative attitude and snarky remarks, the others will do the same, because you haven’t given them anything else to go on.

So long as you remember these things, your team will remain successful in all that they approach. These people are like an extended family, so take the time to treat them and train them right, and everything else will follow!