The pandemic has since changed the way employers and employees work. The companies studied the most effective way to build and manage their workforce. According to Statista, COVID-19 increased the company’s usage of a remote workforce by 72%. The share of company leaders that are heavily pursuing a digital workforce is 57%.
However, most companies still prefer to have their employees return in person to their offices once the pandemic is over. The question now is, as leaders, how can they improve employee productivity and efficiency?
Here are some suggestions to help you be all-in-one management!
Delegate the Tasks
This tip is probably the basics but it’s also one of the most difficult to put into practice. It’s understandable because your company is something precious that you’ve been raising all this time. You’d want to have a hands-on approach to everything involved.
We assure you that nothing is wrong with ensuring excellent quality is delivered. However, if you check every single, small detail rather than making full use of your personnel, it becomes too time-consuming.
As their employer, you need to know your employees’ strengths and weaknesses. Put your trust in them and delegate the responsibilities to whoever is qualified. This helps them gain more experience. It also allows them to achieve if not refine their skill sets.
By delegating tasks, you’re also investing in your employees in the long run so that they may learn and exercise leadership experience. This is a vital part of your association's membership management.
Skills and Tasks Need to Match!
There’s a reason why employers and managers take the time to get to know their employees. It’s not just about building a good relationship in the office but maximizing efficiency.
For example, if you have an introverted employee who excels in organizing, they’re the best people to give tasks related to tracking and data. However, they might have a hard time when talking to clients.
Even with the most talented employees, you can’t ask them to be the best at everything. It sacrifices efficiency. Specialization is still key to making the most out of your resources.
Make sure that you delegate tasks to employees whose skills match the task’s requirements. However, keeping track of each of your employee’s skills is hard. But don’t worry! There are a lot of different association management software tools to help you.
By using these tools, you can easily look over your employees’ data in a few clicks. This way, you can make quick decisions for task delegation.
Effective Communication is Key
On the very first day of training, companies emphasize the importance of communication. This ensures that the team remains productive and efficient. Technology has made the means of communication more convenient. However, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re more efficient.
Emails can be very time-consuming. Other social networking tools are better choices for internal communication. For example, some companies use Slack, Google Chat, or WhatsApp for meeting. Some employees gather in a video call called a “work block” to get things done faster when communication is required.
A membership management database will help you, as an employee, know who to reach out to when you’ve been assigned a task. If you’re a note-taker, you ought to know which departments to contact for which assignment from the manager. This will help make your team more productive.
Internal communication will never be flawless but it’s important to improve the system as much as possible.
Have a Clear Goal
Having a goal helps employees be more efficient because they’re able to strategize around it better. Without any direction, your team will be all over the place trying to get things done. They become less productive and you waste a lot of precious time.
That’s why when giving assignments, the employees need to have clear instructions. What are your expectations of them? How impactful is this assignment you’re giving them?
SMART goals (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely) are your best friend when it comes to this. When assigning tasks, you need to ask yourself if your employee fits those aforementioned requirements. If not, you can give them a different task or tweak it for them.
Give Your Employees Incentives
Employees get a boost of morale and motivation when they have a reason to work hard. Recognize the efforts they exert for a job well done. Feeling appreciated will encourage them to maintain their productivity.
Make sure to recognize their individual needs and deeds if you plan to reward them. Some might prefer to be recognized in public while others prefer to keep it private. You can also try giving them any of these incentives:
PTO
An additional paid time-off can feel one of the most rewarding things for an employee. It saves them from using their existing time off to get some rest.
A Free Meal
You can offer to take your team out to a meal or happy hour. If you’re concerned about social distancing, you can gift them a GrubHub gift card. If the team consists of BPOs, you can send a budget to one of the members. That member can order delivery for everyone else on the team.
Handwritten Notes
Everyone appreciates personal and sincere gifts. Notes are no exception. It shows not just your recognition of their efforts but taking the time to thank them sincerely.
Inform the Boss
If you’re a manager emailing the team for a job well done, make sure to CC your boss on the email so they’ll know.
In addition, to focus on increasing management efficiencies, one critical aspect that SaaS startups must prioritize is cash management. Properly managing cash flow is the lifeblood of any business, and for SaaS startups, it becomes even more crucial as they navigate through various growth stages.
Conclusion
Being all-in-one management is a feat, but not impossible. It takes a lot of effort to be a good leader and to keep your employees. But all this effort is worth it when your employees become more efficient with their tasks.
We’ve discussed how, as a leader, you should learn how to delegate tasks to your employees. You need to know their strengths and weaknesses so you can match the tasks with their skill set accordingly. This also means you need to trust them to do a good job.
Establishing lines of communication is also important. Emails are too slow nowadays compared to instant messaging with Slack or WhatsApp. An efficient method of communication can improve the team’s efficiency as well.
But all of their efforts will be more focused if the team has a goal to work towards. This will give them direction in both decision-making and strategizing. When they succeed, you need to give them the recognition they’re due. Expressing that recognition comes in many forms, from additional PTO to handwritten notes.
With those tips, you may be able to train your team to be efficient. And more importantly, you’ll be able to retain them!