As a leader, it's your job to steer the ship and keep it on course. That means helping your team to be productive and reach their full potential. However, sometimes we have blinders that can prevent us from seeing what may be in our team's way. It's essential to take a step back and identify focus areas that you can work on to help your team thrive. Don't overlook what may be making things go off the rails. Here are four things that may be holding your team back.
Infrequent Team Bonding
Team bonding is the building block for overall team morale and productivity. Team bonding is more challenging than ever in our world of hybrid work. Co-workers connecting can be hit or miss, and a lack of togetherness and engagement quickly leads to a checked-out team. As a leader, what are you doing for team bonding?
With time constraints and many projects on the horizon, it can be easy to get into crunch mode and just stick to getting shit done. Good communication and working relationships must be maintained for your team to flourish. Team members should know about each other's strengths and interests. Let's humanize our teams and not lose that essential factor. Host team-building activities where members can share a story, a fun fact, or even unwind over a coffee break with some good conversation. This interaction strengthens your team's ability to trust in one another, work together, and feel inspired.
Not Enough Focus on Wellness
The well-being of your team should be kept at the forefront of your mind. Today, there is even more buzz on workplace wellness and work-life integration. What are you actively doing to support your team?
Model good practices for time and tech guardrails and help team members feel empowered to ask for support. Or hold a discussion on life hacks for personal wellness that could make a big difference in their overall workdays.
It's essential to cover topics for both physical and mental health. Like, desk space, wiping down surfaces, and social distancing when in the office. Or being mindful when traveling for work with hacks for business travel nutrition.
An effective morning routine could be highly beneficial to mental health. Getting the day started on the right foot can help team members become less stressed, energized, and ready to go. For instance, I like to journal for a few minutes each day, which helps me focus on my prompts for my Top Three priorities, what I'm grateful for, and how I'm going to win the day.
Although this may not be for everyone, suggesting simple tips and tricks could be valuable for your team members.
Helping your team understand their limits and being on the lookout for signs of depression and burnout are crucial for supporting mental wellness and productivity.
Lack of Purpose
As a leader, I have clear-cut and mapped-out goals for myself. They act as my roadmap, hold me accountable, and give me a sense of direction. Think about how fundamental it is to have a guiding light and purpose for your work. Does your team have this same sentiment?
For your team to be productive, they must feel and find value in their work. Recognize the value and skill sets each of your team members brings to the table, and help them excel in what makes them tick. Allow your team members to present their knowledge to the group or grant them the privilege to lead the charge on the next project. Giving opportunities to learn and grow will help your team maintain their sense of purpose and motivate them to stay dedicated to their work.
Missing the Right Tools
What tools do you use that make life and work so much easier? Think about what it would be like without them instead of taking them for granted. If you're like me, going without the convenience of apps to document tasks and correspond at the click of a button would become a productivity nightmare. It's vital that your team not only has the proper tools they need at their disposal but are efficient in using them!
Take a look at your team's current system. Are there ways you can optimize it? Some focus areas would be a project management system, team communication tools, or even time management platforms that can help your team members be more organized and streamline workflows.
Take things a step further, and meet with your team to review how tools help them with workflow management. A great team-building activity is to have a team member highlight and workshop their favorite personal tools and how they use them to speed up efficiency. Wouldn't it be great to discover something new that could help you be more productive?
Taking a deep dive and zeroing in on your focus areas for improvement can help your team's productivity and overall efficiency and satisfaction. Having an engaged team is one that can reach its full potential.
