Making a productive office for your self is hard sufficient, however doing it for your entire group? That is a complete totally different ball recreation.
As a advertising and marketing group chief for a few years, I discovered firsthand the significance — and the challenges — of constructing a productive office.
However wherever I labored, my aim was the identical: to encourage my group and assist them break via limitations to realize their greatest. I led the way in which, guiding every member from newbie to skilled. I turned juniors into specialists and even group leads.
Being a group chief taught me that making a productive office isn‘t about guidelines and plans — it’s about individuals. How do they really feel? What motivates them? Do they really feel heard?
On this piece, I am going to share my private insights blended with ideas from ten superb trade consultants that will help you construct a extremely productive office.
Desk of Contents
What’s Office Productiveness?
Office productivity is the contribution every group makes to the corporate’s success. You may measure it in numerous methods — like how a lot work will get performed in an hour, how a lot cash every worker brings in, or how usually tasks are completed on time.
However there’s extra to productiveness than simply, nicely, producing. The “how” we produce additionally issues, and it’s a giant a part of equipping ourselves and our workplaces to turn into extra environment friendly.
We have to deal with productiveness extra holistically, or as Dan Shipper mentioned in his TED speak, “We expect productiveness is about software program, notebooks and to-do record frameworks, calendars, schedules, and inboxes. And it’s all of these issues, however it’s additionally about our brains and our our bodies.”
So what ought to a productive office seem like? Listed here are 4 issues it ought to prioritize.
1. Wholesome Work-Life Stability
When your group appears like they’re always in work mode, with no room to breathe or pursue different pursuits, productiveness suffers.
Working extra doesn’t imply extra work will get performed — particularly not high quality work. Individuals want a very good stability between work and free time. They should recharge and really feel supported in managing their private lives alongside their work.
And that’s not simply my opinion. A 2022 study on the interactive affect of work-life advantages backs this up. It discovered that perks like versatile work hours and childcare assist result in happier groups, a greater work environment, and everybody being extra productive.
2. Good Communication and Collaboration
Being a group chief is about greater than being an authority determine. Certain, you will have extra duties — approvals, guiding the group — however you are not the only thought generator or decision-maker.
In accordance with a 2023 analysis study, most workers mentioned they felt omitted of choices. Evidently, this shouldn’t be the case, since communication and collaboration are important to true productiveness.
Throughout my time as the pinnacle of outbound content material advertising and marketing at Serpstat, I led my group by retaining communication open, and I genuinely welcomed each strategic or artistic suggestion. I discovered it helpful when somebody provided a distinct perspective, even when it contradicted my very own.
In spite of everything, being a frontrunner did not imply I had all the precise solutions — it meant I wanted to empower my group by exhibiting I valued collaborative concepts, battle decision, and easy teamwork.
3. Clear Targets and Targets
A 2022 Forrester study discovered that solely 39% of members absolutely understood their firm’s objectives. Alternatively, 78% of them fully understood their private/particular person objectives.
That poses the query: Is it actually vital for group members to know company-level objectives?
No.
Is it useful?
Sure.
In the event that they perceive how their particular person objectives match into the corporate’s objectives, they’ll really feel extra productive and motivated to hit the goal.
When all workers perceive an organization’s core motives, objectives, and mission, they present superb outcomes. Because the bestseller guide “Start with WHY” suggests, sharing your organization’s mission with workers, and serving to them really feel invested in it, should be in each profitable firm’s DNA.
Mission alignment additionally helps with motivation. Mateusz Calik, CEO at Delante, shared an attention-grabbing story on how he acknowledged the facility of aim setting:
“I’ve at all times hated and felt so drained and undermined in jobs the place there was no clear finish to a activity … What helped me was a system of labor my second-ever boss uncovered me to. Set deadlines, set tasks, and set functions. It’s the true antidote to procrastination.”
The best way to Improve Productiveness within the Office
Take breaks to maintain at peak efficiency.
Breaks usually are not losing time. Breaks are for recharging batteries after which getting again to do extra and higher.
A current study confirmed that breaks and self-care are essential for higher productiveness and total well being. Staff want at the least an hour of relaxation for each eight hours they work. It is best if the breaks truly break up the working hours, however after all, it depends upon the job — simply don’t keep on with your monitor throughout a break. Getting away out of your display screen and your workstation is the aim right here.
Professional tip: I exploit the Pomodoro technique for high quality work — 25 minutes of efficient work after which 5 minutes of relaxation. And people 5 minutes imply actual relaxation: a brief stroll, stretching, consuming water, and respiratory contemporary air.
Whereas it looks as if it could be simpler to take extra frequent breaks whereas working remotely, that’s not at all times the case. Deb Mukherjee, head of promoting at Numeral, emphasised that “we overwork ourselves throughout distant.” The reality is, whereas at house, many people fail to take vital breaks. Mukherjee means that on this work atmosphere, breaks are extra essential than ever.
Mukherjee additionally believes in seizing fast, spontaneous breaks in the course of the day to share non-work-related tidbits with colleagues, giving our brains a brief breather.
“We’ve got a #enjoyable voice channel the place of us come on all through the day and speak about random stuff like their canine’s current antics,” Mukherjee says.
Eliminate distractions to get extra performed in much less time.
When there’s an excessive amount of noise or fixed interruptions, nobody can focus.
Arrange quiet zones the place you may focus with out distractions. You may as well attempt utilizing noise-canceling headphones to dam out any background chatter. When on the workplace, I exploit AirPods and seek for “music for focus” on YouTube Music.
However the perfect resolution right here? Eliminate the cellphone and notifications. Until it‘s for work calls or messages, tuck it away someplace so it doesn’t tempt you to scroll via social media endlessly.
Cease multitasking to lower work-related stress.
Multitasking = getting much less performed.
Multitasking is leaping from one activity to a different earlier than it’s performed. For instance, you would possibly work on a letter, then change to LinkedIn, then attend a gathering, after which return to the letter. As an alternative of ending duties rapidly, multitasking means every activity will get much less of your consideration. And belief me, you’ll goof over one thing.
A current study discovered that multitasking negatively impacts work and residential life. Regardless of many believing it is important, it truly results in elevated stress, decreased focus, and poorer outcomes.
Whereas this sort of task-switching makes us really feel extra productive, it truly slows us down in the long term. As HubSpot Co-Founder Darmesh Shah famously mentioned, “Don’t child your self which you could multitask — you may’t. Job switching is cognitively costly.”
Set SMART objectives to maintain duties organized.
Preceden research reveals that visualizing your objectives can enhance productiveness by 18%.
So, as an alternative of simply tackling duties randomly, set SMART goals to keep away from burnout and be extra productive. SMART is a superb framework for breaking down a aim into smaller, extra manageable steps to keep away from feeling overwhelmed.
SMART objectives are:
- Particular. Be certain that the objectives you set are particular. The extra detailed, the higher.
- Measurable. Be certain that your objectives are measurable with the intention to see progress and alter accordingly.
- Attainable. Targets must be attainable; if they don’t seem to be, rewrite them.
- Related. Targets ought to align with you or an organization’s values and long-term imaginative and prescient to be able to make an actual influence on change and efficiency.
- Time-Certain. Set a deadline.
To place this into follow, I like writing my objectives in a pocket book each Friday night or Monday morning, so I do know what objectives I need to obtain subsequent week. Then, I put them on my Monday board and ensure to trace and mark my progress often.
The best way to Construct Productive Groups
Present ongoing coaching in numerous fields.
From day one, make sure that each group member receives correct onboarding coaching and ongoing schooling. These classes are nice for bettering abilities, communication, and teamwork.
For instance, in your content material group, supply common workshops on content material creation or web optimization updates. Use free and paid assets. Navigate to a free HubSpot Academy for digital advertising and marketing and challenge administration programs designed by consultants of their fields.
Additionally, get your senior group members to guide workshops with juniors to considerably strengthen group bonds and share information.
Professional tip: Coaching does not at all times need to be work-related. Connor Butterworth, founding father of Rug Slinger, shared that his firm often organizes workshops for private improvement. This strategy resulted in steady month-over-month progress.
Help your group in each doable method as a result of their inner well-being immediately impacts their efficiency.
Encourage collaboration and lead by instance.
Collaboration makes individuals really feel like they’re a part of a group. When colleagues work collectively, they construct belief and friendship. This makes the office a wholesome place to be, tasks get completed quicker, and the outcomes are sometimes higher.
Marcus Clarke, founding father of Searchant, states that one of the simplest ways to foster collaboration is thru classes, conferences, and one-on-one chats.
As soon as he prioritized this, Clarke says, “I observed my group felt extra snug in sharing and expressing their minds and considerations. This led to elevated problem-solving, creativity, and productiveness typically.”
Additionally, should you’re a group chief or supervisor, attempt to be a task mannequin. Present your group how collaboration works by actively collaborating and sharing concepts your self.
As a group chief, I used to usually say, “Hey Matt, how does this work? Are you able to assist me with XYZ?” Certain, I might in all probability Google it, however I wished to indicate the group it’s regular to ask for recommendation and assist.
Make your conferences extra productive.
Do not maintain conferences only for the sake of holding them — particularly weekly planning and retrospective conferences.
Begin by setting clear aims and agendas beforehand. Encourage everybody to contribute their concepts and opinions.
Nevertheless, go away 5 minutes for an informal dialog to test in your group’s temper and set a relaxed however skilled environment.
Watch this quick TedX tutorial on dangerous versus good conferences.
Concentrate on outcomes, not clock-watching.
When outcomes are the primary focus, everybody’s motivated to work smarter, not simply tougher. For that cause, I don’t like time-trackers for distant jobs.
I was a full-time worker for an organization that made us use a tracker even when working on the workplace. In consequence, workers felt careworn and as in the event that they weren’t trusted to do their greatest work. Evidently, this works in opposition to productiveness.
As an alternative, as a supervisor, keep on with what counts — your group’s efficiency and outcomes.
Olivier Bretton, the founding father of Niceboard, has nice perspective on this.
“Probably the most essential factor that has helped me create a productive office for my group at Niceboard is a completely distant setup,” Bretton notes.
In accordance with Bretton, distant work has helped create a extra versatile and targeted work atmosphere for his group. “It additionally encourages productiveness since workers usually are not evaluated on time spent ‘at work’ however slightly on their precise efficiency outputs,” he says.
Professional tip: Current time-tracking to your group as a short lived means for troubleshooting, optimizing workflows, and amplifying productiveness. Encourage your group to make use of this as a instrument to know workload versus capability, discover bottlenecks, and enhance private time administration.
Suggestions for Managing a Productive Office
Keep away from Micromanaging
Don’t micromanage your group.
A 2024 study from the Management & Group Improvement Journal confirmed that micromanagement is without doubt one of the most typical office points, significantly in hybrid/distant work environments. It comes with many adverse results, like anxiousness, demotivation, and decreased productiveness. I’d additionally add that micromanaging discourages activity possession.
After all, you may‘t give your group freedom with out first coaching and guiding them. However as soon as that’s occurred, allow them to take the stage and shine. It’s not at all times going to be simple, however we have to settle for errors and failures as part of the expansion course of.
We are able to additionally take a cue from Alexandra Ilie, challenge advertising and marketing supervisor at Touchpoint. Ilie says she discovered that giving her group freedom was only a begin.
“When issues began to go sideways, as an alternative of diving again into micromanaging, we set clearer expectations, supplied extra assets, and actually amped up the assist. We made positive everybody knew what was anticipated and had what they wanted to fulfill these expectations,” Ilie says.
Use Productiveness and Automation Instruments
Teamwork with out instruments like Trello, Asana, Monday.com, Zapier, Airtable, and so on., can be chaotic. They assist with managing duties, sharing information, coordinating schedules, and collaborating in actual time.
In accordance with a current HubSpot research, 75% of +1350 enterprise professionals agree that automation instruments assist their group collaborate extra successfully.
Kellie Davis, director of content material advertising and marketing at Impact.com, says, “We maintain all challenge communication in Asana …That method, everybody can see what’s occurring, avoiding messages getting misplaced in Slack or electronic mail.” When communication and collaboration are efficient, “everyone seems to be happier and feels extra management over their work.”
Professional tip: When providing productivity apps, ensure that every group member receives coaching on the way to use the apps successfully. I discover it useful to create a Loom video the place I clarify the whole lot step-by-step. This manner, group members can watch at their very own tempo and go away feedback at particular factors if they’ve questions or want clarification.
Ask for Suggestions
It is not simply the supervisor who ought to give suggestions. Your group also needs to give enter on tasks, assess group dynamics, and flag any conduct that doesn’t align together with your firm tradition.
Group members also can give suggestions on the supervisor’s management fashion. For instance, I usually checked in with my group to see how they felt about my management and if there have been any adjustments they wished me to make.
We additionally rolled out nameless surveys to focus on each strengths and areas for enchancment. This acted like a “well being test” for every group, and served a fantastic function.
Rejoice Successes
A 2023 Nice Place to Work research discovered that 37% of workers would do higher work once they obtain private recognition. So, when your workers do one thing nice, give them a shout-out.
Cheer for each large and small wins. As an example, in your Slack group, give a shout out to a group member who nails a challenge, crafts a fantastic pitch, or shares an superior social media publish. And when the win deserves extra than simply reward, take into consideration beginning a bonus program or giving out reward playing cards. You may as well reward your group with an additional day without work. Belief me — this will likely be a giant hit.
Within the phrases of Vartika Kashyap, chief advertising and marketing officer at ProofHub, “You do not have to attend for main milestones to acknowledge particular person or group achievements.”
At ProofHub, Kashyap holds a small group lunch to have fun profitable campaigns. “This reveals my real appreciation in direction of them. Plus, it boosts their morale and encourages them to proceed their devoted effort,” Kashyap says.
Constructive Setting = Productiveness Blossom
We’ve got rolled via plenty of strategies, instruments, and recommendation for making a productive work atmosphere. But when I needed to sum all of it up in a single piece of knowledge, it could be this: Maintain it easy.
Individuals thrive in a piece atmosphere that’s simple and straightforward to work in. No micromanaging, no overwhelming duties. Create a constructive, useful, and supportive vibe. Talk, share concepts, and encourage your group to talk up about what’s bothering them. When everybody appears like a part of the crew, teamwork turns into dreamwork.