How can I increase the productivity of my IT staff?
The market is increasingly competitive and customers are more demanding, so it is important to know how to increase the productivity of your IT team. Productive employees present better results, generate profits, and contribute to the corporation’s growth.
A Microsoft survey revealed that professionals spend about 17 hours a week unproductively. Among the main reasons for this is the lack of internal communication, unclear priorities, and too many ineffective meetings.
Thinking about this subject, we created a post especially for you. Read on and see how to increase the productivity of your IT team. Enjoy your reading!
Create relevant and challenging goals
Unfortunately, many managers fail to set goals for their team, either because of lack of interest or lack of sufficient information to create them. This is a big mistake. Without goals, the team fails to understand what is important and forgets to channel their efforts.
Good goals work as a compass, directing employees on the right path to be traveled. Furthermore, they contribute to focus efforts and make all employees engaged in the search for the desired results.
There are five essential characteristics for creating a quality goal: it must be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. This is a standard known as SMART, used in the most successful companies in the world.
Establish a high performance culture
The organizational culture is made up of the set of habits, beliefs, and values shared within a company. This culture directly influences how the team works, interacts, and delivers results.
A high-performance culture is one that positively influences productivity. To build it, affirm to your employees that all projects can be accomplished in a few hours, days, or – if it is something really complex – weeks of hard work.
It is also important that you eliminate anything that is not necessary. Set aside meetings that are ineffective. Schedule short, necessary, and productive meetings!
Invest in a meritocracy policy
Meritocracy is about deserving, or rather, rewarding employees – in terms of career and salary – according to the results that are delivered. With a good meritocracy policy, IT professionals will be more committed and motivated.
There are three main strategies for implementing a meritocracy model in your business: you can establish job plans (junior, full and senior positions), salary plans or a variable remuneration (commission, profit sharing, etc.).
By creating and implementing such a policy, employees will know that it is up to them to improve their salary and grow within the company. The most talented ones will not hesitate to do so!
Improve internal communication
Dialogue within the company is an important element for success. According to Peter Drucker, management guru, more than 60% of the problems and conflicts in a company happen due to lack of communication. Therefore, you must communicate!
To optimize the dialog, start by involving the top of the company. Encourage supervisors, managers, and even directors to embrace the idea. When leaders communicate well with their subordinates, they can inspire and encourage exponential results.
You also need to create new communication channels for the IT team. Evaluate which technologies you can use. Today the most common are intranet, mobile apps, corporate social networks, email, and other softwares.
