How to Improve Team Performance: 16 Hands-on Tips
Improving the work team’s performance is every manager’s or team leader’s goal. Team performance can be key to the company’s success but can also challenge those in leadership positions.
With such an important and massive goal in mind, how do you improve your team’s performance? How do you improve their efficiency? How do you keep them motivated?
Each industry and each company deals with this differently, and it’s safe to say that in-person/remote work is different for every single worker.
Looking for team improvement ideas? For your organization to succeed, learn more about ways to boost your team’s performance and efficiency. We’ll explore standard techniques that can be applied to a team working remotely, in a hybrid setting, or in person.
Free eBook: How to work smart, not hard
Get your copy of the eBook to learn top productivity tips for teams and their leaders
How to improve team performance
1. Create a time management plan
A time management plan reflects a clear structure to be followed each day. This structure should include how much time a team member has for each task they need to complete or perform.
Efficiency in managing time improves the quality of the work and the performance. The main advantage of a time management plan is the opportunity to customize it to your needs.
Your time management skills can and must be developed by adapting them to your work pace, demands, deadlines, and the number of tasks, to your own schedule.
Remind your team that we all have the same amount of time on our hands to complete our tasks. The difference is in how we manage it.
TIP: Read our guide about how to create a schedule for employees
Time tracking is a proven method of boosting team productivity
Start tracking your time to maximize your team’s productivity
2. Use a time tracking tool
A time tracking tool can be useful for increasing team performance in several ways because it helps you with employee performance tracking and also helps to:
- Identifying inefficiencies: it can help identify areas where team members are spending too much time or are not using their time effectively. By analyzing the data, team leaders can identify areas where improvements can be made to increase efficiency;
- Prioritizing tasks: it helps team managers and members prioritize tasks and manage their workload more effectively;
- Accountability: these tools can help create a sense of accountability among team members. When team members know that their time is being tracked, they may be more motivated to stay on task and avoid distractions;
- Planning: it helps with planning and scheduling. By tracking time spent on tasks, team leaders can better estimate how long future tasks will take and plan accordingly;
- Performance evaluation: time tracking data can be used for performance evaluation and feedback;
- Billing and invoicing: for teams that work on client projects, time-tracking tools help with billing and invoicing. By tracking time spent on different tasks, teams can accurately bill clients and ensure they are being paid for their time.
Overall, tracking your team time helps to measure team effectiveness and also increases team performance by improving efficiency, productivity, and efficacy.
However, it’s important to ensure that team members understand why the tool is being used and that it is implemented fairly and transparently to avoid creating resentment or distrust.
Track time with Timeular – the favourite time tracking tool of over 10,000 teams worldwide
3. Set goals and keep measuring them
Being clear in defining expectations for the workers gives the team clarity to the whole workplace and helps to improve their way of approaching their goals.
Setting realistic goals is a boost for the overall performance of the team. Charles Duhigg, known for his research on productivity, habits, and work culture, explored that dividing work into a combination of big goals and S.M.A.R.T. goals is one of the most effective ways to get things done.
These are the “conditions” that the task must incorporate to be successful. Improve your team’s performance and efficiency by helping them focus on ways to achieve what they want rather than only the final goal.
Having a team of high performers is not enough if results and progression are not being measured.
Setting key metrics and using the necessary tool to evaluate results helps people feel in control, understanding what works and what they need to do next in order to reach their goal.
4. Provide your team with training and learning opportunities
Promoting the team member’s continuous education by providing specific training or learning opportunities, is a great way of improving team performance. It’s a win-win situation, for both the worker and the company.
Job enrichment potential and advancement not only enhance the degree of engagement, but it creates a sense of loyalty.
Performance is improved, people get motivated to do better and employee retention rates increase. The employee feels like a valuable asset to the company, that is willing to invest in them.
Some valid training courses for your team might be:
[Share it with your team] Free eBook: How to work smart, not hard
Get your copy of the eBook to learn top productivity tips for teams and their leaders
5. Be flexible
A good team leader manages people, and by showing flexibility you’ll improve the worker’s morale and thus their job performance.
Everyone has a personal life and private matters to attend to, and it’s important to be aware that by remembering that, your team will feel grateful.
Flexible hours have been a demand that grew with the implementation of remote work, and while it can be a big adjustment to a company, it’s pretty easy to manage.
Giving people flexibility over their hours and location will empower them to offer more to the team.
It’ll help to attract and retain great talent, which can only benefit your overall team performance.
Everyone wants a good work-life balance.
TIP: Read our blog and find out How to improve employee productivity
6. Promote activities to boost team morale
Good performance happens when the team has a sense of purpose. Make sure that they are aware of the company’s culture and values, and that their place in the greater good is known and appreciated.
What you preach should be practiced, or it won’t take long for motivation to start dwelling. Promote activities and occasions that contribute to boosting team morale.
These don’t have to happen only on the leisure side, even though those are very important as well. When people feel like they’re contributing to something bigger than themselves, they feel empowered to be better at their job.
7. Automate tasks
Many tools allow the automation of processes. This is incredibly helpful because it helps you save time and increases business efficiency, which can be used in more important tasks that demand the use of the human brain.
The team members will also feel more motivated if their time is devoted to creative and challenging tasks rather than automated ones.
Many tools help you gather data, send e-mails, build reports, work on presentations, etc. Don’t be afraid to explore the benefits of Artificial Intelligence.
8. Avoid micromanagement
It’s easy to fall into the micro-management trap. Focusing too much on tiny details and condescending to employees contributes to low morale, higher turnover, and less productivity. A less-than-good performance is guaranteed.
As a leader, let go of extreme perfectionism. Show your team that you trust them and their skills.
Micromanagement can lead to decreased morale, lack of creativity, and even job dissatisfaction. Let employees take the lead!
9. Keep giving feedback
This is a “Do” on how to lead a team, keep the team motivated and increase team performance.
Feedback is critical, and a lot of time, effort (and ultimately money) can be saved by a single conversation where someone points out, very clearly, something that isn’t working as it should.
Receiving it is as important as giving it, and they’re essential for everyone to grow, in career terms and personally as well. Keep communication with your team also open in this regard and ask them for their thoughts. Engaged people are motivated people who perform better at their work.
An open line of communication is one of the essential elements of effective leadership.
10. Prioritize work
The definition of goals proves its worth right here. When everything is urgent, how do employees know what to prioritize next?
A well-defined set of goals and an idea of how work ladders up to them is crucial. This will provide people with a clear vision of what should be the next priority.
[Share it with your team] Free eBook: How to work smart, not hard
Get your copy of the eBook to learn top productivity tips for teams and their leaders
11. Eliminate unnecessary meetings
When you think that a meeting should have been an e-mail, you’re probably right.
Meetings can be productive when there is a clear agenda to be followed and when everyone who should attend does and contribute effectively to the success of the meeting.
When these factors aren’t in the plan, even a 30-minute meeting is a waste of time. And, it doesn’t matter if you’re meeting in person or virtually because an unproductive meeting will be a waste of time.
12. Promote organizing work by categories
Categorizing is an important step and most effective if done even before establishing
priorities.
For example, you can use the 4D’s of time management. A technique like this one will help to:
- increase focus;
- reduce multitasking;
- save time;
- increase productivity;
- increase team performance.
If you’ve already tried 4D’s and it didn’t work, you may be interested in the best prioritization techniques.
13. Use the team’s strengths wisely
Each employee has different experiences and unique skills. That is the reason why they’re a valuable team member and this is a good strategy to build a high-performing team.
Acknowledging these skills can help streamline tasks and projects.
Giving a worker a task they’ll find challenging but rewarding is key to helping everyone perform better and be more efficient. It’s also an essential step to managing a high performer.
14. Set up a plan of action
Also known as creating a project plan, for every member of the team to follow. Having a well-thought plan that’s been clearly mapped out from the beginning, will eliminate additional stress-inducing tasks in the future.
These are the elements to keep in mind:
- setting goals;
- defining success metrics;
- knowing who the stakeholders are;
- knowing what team member is responsible for;
- having a budget if applicable;
- setting milestones;
- deliverables;
- creating a timeline to follow;
- building a project management communication plan.
To help you manage all these things, it might be a good idea to use a work management tool.
15. Celebrate successes and learn from failures
Take time to acknowledge the team’s successes and celebrate their accomplishments. It’s a good way to keep your employees motivated.
But, you need to use failures as opportunities for learning and growth. Use these moments to encourage team members to reflect on what went wrong and how to improve in the future.
16. Recognition and rewards
One of the most basic tips on how to improve a team’s performance is recognition and rewards.
Providing recognition and bonuses or rewards to employees can be an effective way to improve team performance, as it can motivate employees to work harder and achieve better results.
These bonuses and rewards can also help with employee retention. When employees feel that their hard work is being recognized and rewarded, they are more likely to feel satisfied and less likely to seek opportunities elsewhere.
At the same time, this promotes and contributes to a positive work culture where employees feel valued and motivated to work hard.
Conclusion
Improving a team’s performance is an ongoing, continuous process. It may seem overwhelming, but using the right tools and techniques can help make everyone on the team more efficient.
Keep focusing on building continuous improvement habits and promoting team communication, so that people know they can rely on each other to counterbalance possible weaknesses and share strengths.
Teams become more involved in their goals when they are fully aware their ideas and opinions are welcome and, most of all heard.
Don’t let your team increase productivity by sacrificing efficiency. By doing so, you as the leader, and the team, achieve anything.
However, they need to find that almost perfect balance, which is possible by applying several techniques and methods, such as the ones presented in this article.
Remember that good leadership is defined by its impact, how it encourages and supports a team, and the results it brings to the company as a whole.
A good leader is by the workers’ side, helping them to achieve their work goals and helping them be happier, more productive, and more connected.
If you look for team improvement ideas, you might be interested in: