Three Productivity Hacks for You and Your Team

I have tried more productivity systems and philosophies than I’d care to admit. Finding ways to improve productivity, increase output, and continuously improve is alluring. The ultimate goal is to get back more time to focus on things that matter to us.

For teams, the goal is to support your teams in working on the right things at the right time. It matters to the individuals, the community, and the organization they serve. Teams have a collection of projects and tasks they need to complete. Keeping track of everything can be complicated without productivity systems in place. Also, teams can provide more complexity as each individual approaches tasks and projects differently.

Here are three ways a team can increase its productivity:

• Make It Visible – The best-developed systems are only as good as their visibility. They can be on a whiteboard across the hall or online with multiple, timely steps to access them. If you make it hard for individuals to find the system, it will not be utilized. Create opportunities for people to find the system such as daily stand-up meetings, placing it in high-traffic areas, and saving digital systems as bookmarks on your desktop. Improving visibility gets your team in the habit of working with the team system.
• Automate – The less you have to work in a productivity system, the more productive you will be. Those sound like conflicting ideas for a productivity system but it’s true. How often have you written or typed the same task for recurring projects? Finding ways to automate those steps reduces the friction a system can create. Digital systems can save recurring tasks or projects as templates. Paper systems can be a template that can be printed and kept on your desk.
• No Two Brains Are the Same – Not every productivity system will work for you or your team. One person’s sticky note solution is another’s digital system that is accessible 24/7/365. Ask your team how they stay productive and find ways to incorporate that into the team system. This allows the team to take ownership of the system and keep themselves on track.

Making a team system flexible and accessible not only makes the team productive but also makes individuals more successful. Does your team have a productivity system that is actively supporting the work of your team? What other tips do you have to increase team productivity? Leave a comment below!