As humans, time is all we have and there still never seems to be enough of it. We all wake up with the best intentions every morning to finally fix that squeaky door or write up the small business plan we’ve been dreaming up in our heads for the past few years. Since the dawn of time people have been trying to harness their waking hours to increase productivity as best they can.

How to Increase Productivity in the Workplace

Now more than ever, businesses across all industries are working to get the most out of their working hours, their employees, and for their hard-earned dollars. In the last two years particularly, shifting corporate landscapes are changing how the world does business. In-office and work from home alike are looking for strategies to increase productivity in the workplace.

Here are seven suggestions on how to increase productivity in the workplace:

Set Clear Expectations

Having a goal to work toward is the foundation of a job well done. It is tremendously important to outline what is expected of an employee and the project they are working on. This also encourages them to do the same with their clients and co-workers. 

Ambiguity can produce inconsistent results. It’s important to be specific from the big (such as job descriptions) to the small (such as edits and revision notes on an individual project). 

Standardize the Little Things

Standardizing small tasks leaves time and brainpower for priority projects. 

Try creating standardized practices for labeling documents or creating templates for routine emails. This quickens time spent on mundane tasks and allows your team’s creative energy to be channeled into more important tasks, using their time in a more efficient way.

Offer Resources

Sometimes people are kept from reaching their maximum productivity simply because they’ve never been introduced to the right methods. Google Digital Garage offers a productivity training course for free. 

Although, it’s important to provide ample time in your team’s schedule if requiring training. Keep it simple and easy to complete in a designated time frame. 

Encourage Breaks

Workplace burnout is a major struggle for corporate workers these days. Unattainable workloads and hours spent inside staring at a computer screen can drain what little energy is left. This is why it’s important to encourage breaks for you and your team. 

There are many break-taking techniques out there, a popular one is the Pomodoro method. Research what break methods may be best for your line of work and encourage the use of them throughout your workplace.

Move

Throughout history, university classes used to be taught while students and teachers were walking through campus because the movement was thought to encourage learning and clarity of mind. All of us know the effects of a day spent motionless by a screen. 

Taking time to stretch, go for a walk, or have a lunchtime yoga session throughout the day are imperative for a healthy work-life balance. Additionally, there are studies that indicate that aerobic exercise has immediate and lingering effects on creativity while exercising in general increases well-being and productivity across multiple industries. 

This can look like an intensive workout in the morning before work or even a short walk across the road to your favorite coffee shop. Making time for yourself and your body produces the best you and increases your drive to get things done.

Be Flexible

Just as everyone has different learning styles, each person has a different working style. While some workers are most productive in the morning, some thrive in the afternoon and evening. Introverts tend to work better in a quiet focused environment making them better candidates for working from home– while extroverts often thrive off of other’s energy in the office. 

This makes it important to offer flexibility, when possible, allowing employees to meet expectations by their own route. This can look like a flexible start time (even if it’s just an hour or two) or a hybrid in-office/wfh schedule. It’s your responsibility to get to know how your employees work best and provide opportunities for them to thrive.

Demolish the Idea of “Perfect”

We know perfection is not achievable but a lot of us still try. Many of us have stayed up late or gotten to work early to put those finishing touches on projects and papers. While well-intended, perfectionism can actually be counterproductive to completing a project. Focusing too much on the details and an unreachable ideal usually leads to less work being accomplished.

Always strive for great thorough work, but remember that a complete project is often better than an “eventually perfect” work-in-progress. 

Everyone Takes a Different Route to Productivity

At the end of the day, everyone works differently to achieve their best results. While the business doesn’t always leave room for flexibility, providing options and catering to different working styles, when possible, goes a long way. 

Encouraging health and wellness in the workplace has been on the mind of the corporate world for years. There is increasing evidence that this is an extremely positive venture for personal and professional reasons. 

Respect and openness are the keys to discovering where these changes can take place for your team. When employees feel respected, heard, and appreciated they are more likely to take pride in their work and produce more, higher quality work. 

Find What Works for Your Team

Many external factors have caused best practices to shift in the corporate world– and our methodology to approaching productivity has to as well. Whichever methods you choose, it’s important to encourage and motivate your employees along the way to ensure happy employees, better results, & increased productivity.

If you are looking for ways to optimize your medical practice, Digital Limelight Media offers creative and innovative digital marketing solutions for medical practices. We offer tools like DLM Insight to create an efficient way to manage your office, marketing, projects, and patients. If you’d like to learn more about what we do and how we can help you, contact us today by completing our online form.