Best Ways to Make Your Employees More Productive

As a manager, one of your greatest responsibilities is to inspire others to be the best versions of themselves. If this is done well, everyone on your team will not only be more productive and efficient, but also more satisfied with their work. One of the most difficult challenges, especially for new managers, is to balance this leadership mentality (which focuses on helping other people) and at the same time find ways to do your own work.

No matter whether you have read countless leadership books, have been leading others for a long time or have been pushed into a position ill-prepared: Leading people and empowering them to do a good job is an art that can be learned just like programming skills or cycling.

While there is no prescribed and guaranteed way to become the "best leader ever", there are many actionable things you can do to ensure that your employees are always on the right track.

Here are 10 tactical ways you can help your employees be more productive - a great foundation for future leadership success;

Be yourself

There is no substitute for authenticity. People can sense forgeries! If you have to throw a face to your employees every day, not only can you lose their trust, but it also makes your work less pleasant.

There is no reason to overcompensate with certain leadership styles based on how other people lead - especially if it is outside your comfort zone. Behavior that is consistent with your beliefs and values gives you more energy every day, and it sends a message to your employees to be themselves.

Create a culture of transparency and feedback

While many managers shy away from doing this, admitting when you are wrong is crucial to building an honest and transparent culture where everyone can feel free enough to do their best at work. For me this starts at the highest level. So when you are the CEO, you learn to admit when you are wrong.

Sometimes, when we are in a leadership role, we think we need to show control and always be right. Yet it actually shows more courage to admit when you don't know the answer or when you've made a mistake. In this way you create a level of transparency with your employees and promote a culture of learning. In the long run it will allow you to change your ideas and tendencies without having to maintain your ego.

Get to know each individual

It's hard to remember that Jan told you that her daughter broke an arm and that Jose's father-in-law was in town for the weekend. Watching the little things every Monday morning shows real care for your employees.

When you ask about something you know happened in someone's life, or when you look for someone who seems a little down, you can build a stronger connection between you and each team member.

In this context, it is an opportunity to understand what motivates your employees, what they enjoy doing and what they are working towards. If an employee knows that his boss cares about his success, he will be more motivated to work and feel obliged to work hard for you. They will also find it easier to give constructive feedback when they know that you have their best interests at heart.

I personally take a daily walk twice a day during working hours. I usually invite two or three people for each walk. This helps me get to know people with my busy schedule. Take your time for it.

Appreciate good work

Recognition of lack of work can set a bad precedent. Although it is sometimes difficult to draw a line, you can give your employees the recognition they deserve by carefully monitoring their efforts, growth and performance.

Many employees are so caught up in their own world that they don't want to give each other the recognition they deserve. So if you are the one applauding good work, you can keep motivation high and show the much needed recognition.

You will be surprised how much "good work" is appreciated by some people. It can make the difference between a happy and productive employee and someone who leaves your company.

Empower them with the best technology

People often spend hours on tasks that can be automated or greatly accelerated by technology. In most cases, it is actually cheaper to pay for things like automating calendars than to schedule meetings manually. For many things, there are solutions available today that you may not even know exist.

Take a look at the tasks that employees do, especially the monotonous tasks that bother them. If you take the time to find solutions that can automate or speed up these tasks, they will not only be more productive, but also much happier.

Encourage risk-taking

If there were a 40 percent probability that a project that an employee could take over would fail and a 60 percent probability that it would succeed, then the decision to continue the project will depend largely on their perception of the risk of failure. In a culture where failure is met with harsh criticism and fear of dismissal, these 60/40 decisions, which would benefit an organization as a whole, are not implemented.

Employees face decisions like this every day as to whether they should try something more ambitious than the norm. Encouraging this willingness to take risks will not only increase employees' self-confidence and autonomy, but will also lead to greater performance in a culture of innovation.

Getting everyone behind the mission and keeping them there

One of the biggest challenges in a company, especially when it is growing, is to get every employee excited about the work they do. If people work on themselves and feel that the work they do is the best possible way they could spend their lives right now, their output will be exponentially higher.

If they base a part of their self-image on the work they do, and if they care deeply about this work, then they will come to work every day with the energy to give all they have.

Give people freedom and autonomy

If people feel that they have to do their work in a certain way, that they have to wear certain things in the office and cannot be themselves, they will be less happy and productive.

If you have honest conversations about the kind of work they want to do, if you encourage employees to take a goal or idea and run with it, and if you let them focus their work around the lifestyle they want, then that can create dynamics in the office - by encouraging employees to work harder on what they enjoy most.

Pushing people to do what they think they cannot do

Autonomy is important, but without a general sense of leadership, people could spend a lot of time trying to figure out what they should be doing.

They sign up and ask them to ask questions like "Why am I working on this particular thing? What else can/should I work on? Is what I am doing the best use of my time and is there a way to do it more efficiently?" can help speed up their learning and productivity.

Hire the best people

That goes without saying, but in an ideal world you can hire people who are passionate about the work they do, who know how to deal with ambiguity and who know how to push themselves.

Often it is not the case that everyone on your team is a shining star. Part of being a manager is getting those superstar qualities out of ordinary people. However, it is crucial to know when a person is not a good fit and to break connections. No matter what tactics you use, there are certain people who will never fit well in certain jobs.

If you're looking for an HRIS system to make your employees more productive, we suggest you IceHrm which is one of the best HRIS systems which has so many HR functions automated into one system.