now, no signup required!
Have you noticed how some people accomplish so much more in the same amount of time? You, on the other hand, find yourself missing deadlines and struggling to keep pace with work?
Productivity is a challenge for many people at the best of times. The COVID-19 pandemic has made it even tougher as lines between work and life have become blurred.
Time is fixed. A day will always have just 24 hours. So, you have to adopt methods to improve productivity or keep putting in extra hours.
Let's look at some ways to help boost productivity and work smartly.
How to increase productivity at the workplace
People sometimes longer hours mean greater productivity. But productivity is about working smartly and having a good work-life balance. You can work better with the following methods to improve productivity in your daily work processes:
-
Improve your efficiency
Working extra hours doesn’t make you more productive. You might have short bursts of creativity, but you will eventually get fatigued your productivity will dip.
A better way is to become more efficient. Let’s look at the scenario of a garment factory.
A worker produces one piece an hour and eight pieces in a regular shift of eight hours. However, the management wants to increase production to 12 pieces a day. So, they made the workers do a 12-hour shift daily. After a few days, the output is down to nine pieces and the workers are unhappy. They moved to a new company with better processes and made 12-13 pieces in a regular eight-hour shift comfortably.
Similarly, we too should optimize our work hours. Prioritizing and removing interferences helps if you are wondering how to improve productivity.
-
Delegation of work
Successful and result-oriented people have one thing in common: They understand the power of delegation. For instance, you can’t delegate the task of signing cheques or approving files. However, you can certainly delegate tasks like writing a speech, preparing a presentation for a meeting or making sales calls.
Delegating work will help you boost your productivity levels. A well-trained role and engaged team’s collective effort will increase your output.
-
Don’t get distracted
Cellphones and social media are the biggest distractions today. Keep your phone away and check social media notifications only when you are not in the middle of something important. Removing distractions can double your output.
-
Invest in productivity tools and equipment
How to increase productivity in an organization is a common question. The answer is that you equip the workforce with high quality and efficient systems. As we learned from the factory example, it is possible to increase productivity by switching to the right tools, equipment and processes.
-
Be realistic in your goal-setting and help others
At times, managers and entrepreneurs get carried away in their goal-setting. By setting over-ambitious or too easy goals, you might create a false impression of success or failure. Guide and incentivize people to perform better, but also ensure that the goals are realistic, achievable with the allocated resources and sustainable.
Conclusion
How to improve productivity is a common challenge faced by most people and organizations. However, the answer lies in ensuring the right processes and techniques and not taking hasty steps without focusing on the sustainability of such actions.
There are many methods to improve productivity and Harappa Education’s Practicing Excellence course is one recommended option. The course primes you to look beyond deadlines and targets teaches you frameworks and concepts that will help you continuously improve your performance. Apart from teaching methods to improve productivity, a section on the ‘The Four Selfs of Excellence’ helps you present your best self at work. You can enroll for this easy online course without stepping out of your home or office and be a winner at work!
Explore topics such as the Meaning of Work Ethic, the Importance of Punctuality & the Johari Window from our Harappa Diaries section and lead on a path of self-development.
