Small, young businesses face a critical dilemma. They need highly productive, talented individuals to fuel their growth, but they also have limited resources and minimal experience. How can you facilitate higher employee productivity in a new startup with these limitations?
Choose the Right Employees
One of the most important strategies you can follow is something you can do from the outset: choose the right employees. This may seem obvious to some entrepreneurs, but it’s important to recognize that many startups fail simply because they prioritize the wrong qualities when hiring new people.
Pay close attention to talent and abilities when looking for candidates for your startup rather than overemphasizing experience. You should also be on the lookout for people who are truly dedicated to what they do and are passionate about their work. These people are typically intrinsically motivated and will naturally be very productive additions to your team.
Additionally, it’s important to find people who fit into your workplace culture. There are many different blueprints of acceptable organizational cultures for your startup, and you can devise something entirely of your own as well. Most importantly, the employees you hire are a good fit for that culture so that you can all collaborate more effectively.
Provide Better Tools and Systems
Boosting employee productivity also requires providing better tools and systems. These days, successful startups are built on the foundation of good technology. Better computers, computer networks, and software products can instantly expand your team’s capabilities and allow them to get more done in less time.
It’s especially important to use tools and systems that allow you to fully utilize your technology infrastructure. For example, network monitoring software is designed to help you better visualize and plan your computer network while simultaneously identifying potential issues and preventing downtime. With better network monitoring software in place, you should be able to proactively prevent most instances of network downtime and address downtime more quickly when it does occur.
Streamline Workflows
Pay close attention to your workflows. Are there any redundant steps that could easily be cut? Could these processes be fluid and intuitive so they don’t slow anything down? Are employees clear on their responsibilities and how they should follow these workflows? Are there any workflows that you can automate to save time and money and improve consistency? These are certainly big questions, but the most important takeaway is that you should spend time optimizing your workflows for productivity.
Concentrate on Productive Work
If you want employees to be more productive, have them concentrate on more productive work. These are the main things that can get in the way:
- Meetings. Meetings are common and valuable in young startups, but they take a lot of time. Every minute your employees are in a meeting is a minute they’re not spending on more productive tasks. Keep your meetings to a minimum, reduce the amount of time they take, and consider reducing participants as well.
- Distractions. Distractions can compromise even your most productive employees, so try to minimize them and encourage employees to be mindful of their own sources of distraction.
- Interruptions. Nobody likes to be interrupted while they’re focusing on something important, but interruptions are frequent in many startups. Limit incidental conversations and instant message urgency to allow people to focus on their work uninterrupted.
Improve Communication
Communication has the power to make or break employee productivity since it underlies almost every task. Provide your employees with educational and training resources that prepare them to communicate effectively in a professional environment. If and when employees deviate from your communication standards, point out the problematic conduct and correct it.
Boost Morale
Employee morale is strongly positively correlated with higher productivity. Accordingly, you can boost productivity in your organization by making your employees happier and more engaged with their work. Choose the right people for the right jobs, compensate your employees appropriately, and offer rewards and celebrations for achieving certain goals or doing exceptional work. You should also make your workplace as comfortable and welcoming as possible.
Get Feedback
Finally, be willing to get feedback from your employees – and take that feedback seriously. Most employees genuinely want to do a good job, and they’ll let you know if obstacles prevent them. They may have recommendations for changes to your technologies, workflows, and systems that could allow them to be even more productive.
Higher employee productivity can increase the chances of your startup succeeding. And with these impactful strategies, you should have no trouble keeping your employees productive.
