6 Steps To Increase Productivity with Team Goals

A focused team is a productive team. And, a productive team is the one that gets things done. Working toward common team goals can help.

The following is a guest post from Vartika Kashyap

Have you ever come across an instance where your focus seemed to be shifting from the goal itself? It might be possible that you find yourself putting out fires as they come but you can’t really get back on track to accomplish the larger, shared team goal.

In my opinion, every office goes through this kind of slump phase. I found that working on morale, collaboration, and communication has always helped my team be more goal-oriented. There’s really not much to it. In this post, I’m going to share some simple and highly effective tips to make your team more goal-oriented.

I’ve tried them in my own workspace, and they’ve shown great results. 

Before we begin, all I’d like to say is that prioritization and time management will automatically follow when you work on some basic pointers that I’ve tried to explain below:

1. Visualize Team Goals Better

You can only expect people to be goal-oriented when goals are all your team can see. I have the following tips about bringing team goals more into focus:

  • Use task/project management tools that help your team see their assignments and weekly goals with ease. 
  • Invest in a software that can help them stay on top of things by syncing their tasks to their virtual calendars. 
  • Have monthly meetings to discuss future agendas and target numbers.
  • Give them a clear understanding of the situation of your resources and the team goals to be achieved.
  • Help them create a workflow to track progress and work in the direction in which the project is going. 

2. Break Projects Into Milestones

If you want your team to stay on track all the time, you need to support them throughout their journey. You can have a more goal-oriented workforce when you can make these goals seem more achievable. 

Sometimes working towards the larger goal can be hard. It may seem unachievable, too big a number to get to. In such situations, you need to break these team goals into smaller and manageable targets, that we call milestones. And, use these milestones as an opportunity to boost their morale by celebrating success every time they reach it.

Here are some easy steps to set a milestone:

  • Since a milestone is just a moment in time, you need to analyze and map out how many tasks need to be existing to build up to it.
  • Mark tasks that mark the end of something big and these are your critical points.
  • It should be placed such that it aligns with some serious shifts in dynamics at the workplace. 

When placed and celebrated right, milestones can be an incentive that drives your team to accomplish goals.

3. Celebrate Achievements

Celebrations in the workplace are very important. After all, everyone would like to remain goal-oriented when they know their efforts are going to be recognized and rewarded. 

Here are some reasons why this is an effective tactic:

  • These give your team an outlet to blow off some steam and get some perspective.
  • It keeps the employees happy and motivated to achieve the next big target. 
  • Celebrations help people come together and get to know each other better. 
  • Recognized achievements give your team a feeling that they are well on their way to success. 
  • These celebrations are a dose of reassurance for the employees as they come to know the project they are working on is being achieved with contributions from numerous people.  

4. Raise The Office Morale

I feel a workforce that is inspired can more easily be goal-oriented than the one that isn’t. It is imperative that if you want something in return, you have to cater heavily to the needs of your employees. Here’s how you can accomplish that with ease:

  • Make yourself more accessible to your team, ask them questions, and hear their answers. 
  • Give value and appreciation to the employees who have reached a certain goal. 
  • Try to be more involved in team activities so that they feel more dedicated to the cause.
  • Get people hyped up about the numbers achieved by announcing them along with the achievements of every department on a monthly basis.
  • Practicing effective communication can help you be more involved and raise the spirits of your team effectively.

Read this: 15 Ways to Increase Team Motivation to Get the Best from Your Team

5. Help Them Meet Deadlines

Setting deadlines, working with the project timeline, and managing tasks effectively are chapters from the same book. If you want a goal-oriented workforce, map out a workflow that helps them be on track with the project timeline. After all, being goal-oriented without deadlines is like traveling places without a map.

Here’s how you can execute projects better with deadlines:

  • Tell your team to proceed with their tasks with respect to set guidelines for following deadline directives.
  • The deadline guidelines must explain the buffer period, the time taken in each stage, the submission time, and reviewing time. 
  • project steering committee would be a big help in ensuring that everyone stays on track by meeting deadlines.
  • Also, give time off to your team for breaks and planned events since both help increase productivity. 
  • Keep the tools and resources they need in top shape so it is easier for them to attempt their tasks.

6. Promote A Collaborative Culture

While you are keeping it all out in the open and making team goals seem more visible and achievable, you must also give your team the tools, resources, and information they need to achieve said goals. There are many ways to do that, for example:

  • Promote a collaborative team culture by investing in a collaboration software to keep every project, every task, and every goal and milestone under one roof.
  • Work out the problems with communication and root out these causes as these hamper productivity.  
  • Get a communication software tool that can help you make your office a meeting-free zone. This will help you manage time and communicate more effectively. 
  • Also, try to incorporate technology for project management so that you can give your employees as much information as they would need to complete said task. 

Conclusion 

The reason behind working to have a goal-oriented team is to achieve more and spend energy on doing things that bring them closer to their purpose. A team has shared interests and shared goals, but when we stray from the main goal, things get messy, and before you know it, the team is out of the loop.

Therefore, it is important to have an eagle-eye view of the goals not just for you as a boss, but for your team as well. I hope my tips will help you create an environment that caters heavily to productivity and management of time for staying on target.

Author Bio : 

Vartika Kashyap is the Chief Marketing Officer at ProofHub — project management software for teams of all sizes. She is one of the LinkedIn Top Voices in 2018. Her articles are inspired by office situations and work-related events. She likes to write about productivity, team building, work culture, leadership, entrepreneurship among others and contributing to a better workplace is what makes her click.

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