What’s all this talk about Productivity? 5 tips to help your team effectiveness

Productivity is all over the news presently – the Australian government hosted a productivity roundtable last week.  Clearly, this is a key issue in Australia impacting us all.

In business, we often talk about productivity in terms of output and efficiency. For me, productivity is about effectiveness – how well I use my time, my skills and my energy to contribute to Optimum Consulting’s objectives… same goes for my team.  Our successes are intertwined.

In my opinion, agency Recruitment and HR Consulting activities are team endeavours, requiring skills across three key areas:

• Origination of recruitment and HR consulting opportunities with clients.
• Successful management of end-to-end recruitment assignments (including candidate sourcing and engagement) and delivery of HR consulting campaigns.
• Generation and strengthening of ongoing customer relationships.

Like most teams, our staff have strengths and weaknesses across these three core areas, so our success relies on effective teamwork and leveraging individual talents.

Why Individual Effectiveness Matters

Productivity is about doing what matters, not just doing more.  Everyone in our company is a contributor to our culture and our bottom line.  We are not a global organization with tens of thousands of employees, rather a small to medium sized business, so the impact of each team member is magnified.  When we have the majority contributing effectively by hitting their goals, the company performance is strong, and conversely when the majority are off, the company suffers (both culturally and financially).  The benefits of all of us taking accountability for our performance are enormous.  It is a force multiplier.

Good People Make Great Organisations

I continue to believe that people are intrinsically motivated to do great work – our mission statement confirms it.

WE BELIEVE IN THE INHERENT GOODNESS OF PEOPLE AND THAT GOOD PEOPLE MAKE GREAT ORGANISATIONS. 

When we all feel our individual contribution is important, we’re more engaged, more resilient, and ultimately more productive.

What can I do?

As a line manager in a small company, I can’t make much of an impact on Australia’s productivity (GDP per hour worked) across the country, but I can and should do my part and encourage my team to do the same.

5 things I do to encourage productivity and effectiveness

• Availability – NFL coach Bill Parsons is credited with popularising the phrase, “availability is the best ability”. I try to make myself available to my team as much as possible and be reliably present.
• Setting clear, measurable and impactful goals – I love setting specific goals and tracking my performance and I encourage my team members to do the same. I share my goals with my manager and team members for transparency and accountability – I find it generates the motivation and energy I need to hit my goals, knowing I will be sharing my results with others when the deadlines come (for us that is every 3 months – using our MELOPLAN software).
• Praising – everyone in my team submits a weekly “worklog” to share a snapshot of their working week – the wins, the challenges and general updates. I reply to everyone, every week, without fail (and so does my boss).  Keeping the praise and feedback flowing keeps us on track and feeling valued.
• Training – I’m a big believer in building capability through regular training – every quarter we run or coordinate training sessions, to help our team build knowledge and confidence.
• Trust – Sure, we manage KPI’s and have non-negotiables when it comes to activities that are expected to be done, but we don’t micromanage. We trust our team to make decisions, take ownership, and do the right thing.   I believe this fuels engagement and drives performance.

Final Thought

When we all do our part, the whole business lifts. In my experience, when my team feel they’ve contributed meaningfully, they’re not just productive, they’re proud to be part of our company… and I love that.

Ben Walsh
General Manager Recruitment

Ben is General Manager – Recruitment at Optimum Consulting Group, an Australian employment advisory firm.  He has been actively recruiting and managing teams for over twenty years, with industry experience gained in Australia, Canada and Ireland.