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Lately, the general public discourse on work productivity revolves nearly solely across the in-office vs distant work debate. I am not a fan of this as a result of it tends to scale back productiveness to a one-dimensional metric.
Clearly, the place you’re employed issues, however this issue’s significance has been overstated in recent times. This, in flip, permits firms accountable productiveness shortcomings on their present work mode and ignore extra systemic points. Does your workforce have the required instruments at their disposal? Are they in tune with the corporate’s priorities? Have they got clear KPIs, and the way is productiveness evaluated?
Furthermore, isolating productiveness from different key workforce metrics similar to worker satisfaction, engagement and motivation is, in my view, nonsensical — what is the level of a barely extra productive workforce in the event that they’re massively extra prone to give up?
Spotify and eBay have dedicated to a work-from-anywhere policy, they usually’re doing nice. Amazon and Apple, after introducing RTO mandates, are additionally doing nice.
On the finish of the day, productiveness is just not a lot in regards to the whereas it’s in regards to the how. It would not matter if you happen to work from a cubicle, sofa or cafe — if the (distant) workplace tradition is damaged, productiveness will undergo.
So, as a substitute of dwelling on whether or not your workforce ought to be distant, the best way to essentially improve productiveness is to concentrate on extra basic components. Listed below are 5 hallmarks of a productive workplace tradition.
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1. Clear communication
In thriving workplaces, you may discover common workforce conferences with clear, actionable outcomes, open channels for suggestions and transparent decision-making processes. Workers have quick access to needed info and really feel snug asking questions. They’re updated about their duties, timelines and expectations. You will additionally see the leaders lead by instance — overcommunicating priorities and progress to maintain all the group on the identical web page whereas remaining accessible to their workers.
This alignment and information-sharing enable groups — remote or not — to remain centered and keep away from wasted time, misunderstandings and systemic unproductivity.
2. Collaborative surroundings
Excessive-performing workplaces domesticate cooperation throughout groups and departments to interrupt down limitations, encourage various views and allow workers to sort out complicated challenges extra successfully. Collaboration would not at all times occur naturally or productively. To learn from it in a approach that contributes to the corporate’s backside line, collaboration have to be fostered and nurtured via shared targets, devoted practices and intentional management.
12 months after 12 months, collaboration was named as one of many high points plaguing distant staff and is mostly perceived as a robust benefit of an in-person surroundings. Whereas there is definitely some benefit up to now, that is one other issue the place, in my expertise, firm practices, insurance policies and approaches are king.
Distant work would not preclude resource-sharing throughout departments, team-building actions, data sharing and basic camaraderie, nor does in-person work assure it.
3. A goal-oriented strategy
For each communication and collaboration to be efficient, they have to be underpinned by a goal-oriented approach. In any other case, it is simply chit-chat and get-togethers. When particular person workers and whole groups perceive how their contributions immediately impression overarching goals, it fosters a way of possession and accountability. It additionally provides all-important course to the work that defines each the duties and their function.
With out clear targets, any exercise is productive, giving a deceptive image of progress when, in actuality, it is principally optics. A goal-oriented strategy ensures that effort and time are channeled towards crucial priorities, driving tangible outcomes for the enterprise.
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4. Work-life steadiness
I am a large advocate of a wholesome work-life steadiness and breaks all through the workday as a result of workers can solely give their 100% after they have 100% to present. This implies versatile scheduling, beneficiant day without work insurance policies, advantages geared towards supporting well being and strongly discouraging any after-hours work and communication, with the management setting an instance.
Right here, it is vital to notice that one of many generally cited benefits of distant work is a greater work-life steadiness. Whereas, sure, not having to commute is a significant upside, the truth is that distant staff usually work longer hours, test their emails after work and customarily have a more durable time sustaining boundaries between their skilled and private lives. Whatever the mode of labor, it falls on the management to encourage a wholesome work-life steadiness and resist the urge to reap the benefits of folks’s eagerness and dedication in alternate for short-term advantages.
5. Progress mindset
Final however not least, a productive workplace tradition is often characterised by a growth mindset, each in relation to the corporate’s targets and the betterment of its workers. We have now already coated the previous, however the latter is simply as vital, as worker training and growth immediately contribute to the corporate’s productiveness and flexibility.
Ongoing coaching alternatives, mentorship packages and recognition of each effort and achievement domesticate a mindset of steady enchancment. Furthermore, the funding within the workforce usually fosters loyalty, particularly when private and firm progress align, providing alternatives for profession development. That is an especially highly effective motivator that may drive whole firms, particularly up-and-coming ones.