With the world of work constantly changing between workers in the office, working from home, and hybrid working options, it can become more challenging to keep track of your staff. Add outsourcing, consultants, and freelancers to the work team, and you might have a recipe for disaster.
So what can you do to ensure that your staff is staying on track? It is important to remember that many people produce better work at home. They are more productive with their hours and often make a higher quality of work. When you hire freelancers, they have probably been freelancing for many years and are great at managing their time.
Remember that not everyone can manage their time well, so you will need to employ different methods to get it right. When it comes to time management, this is a great post that can help: Clocking In And Out: Best Practices For Your Business.
Here are a few more ways to help your staff do their best work.
Accountability
When there are clear objectives, and everyone knows who is responsible for what, it is easier for your team to take ownership and accountability in the project. As a leader, you should set clear goals and ensure that everyone knows what part they play and its deadline.
Keep them connected by keeping the lines of communication open.
Task management
Who is doing what and when should have the ultimate visibility. Any team member waiting on information and assets should check when it will be available and plan their work around it.
A central task management system offers leaders and the rest of the team to see what issues might arise and how to navigate. Home care software is an interesting example of this, that allows in-home health agencies to streamline the work they do, with more efficiencies in scheduling and client management.
Well-being
From time to time, your staff is going to need more than just a weekend off work, and they might need more than a short vacation too. Over the last few years, mental well-being has taken a battering for many workers.
Address issues including technology, space, and other obstacles to working from home. Keep in mind that certain people will require greater flexibility than others. Accountability makes people more productive, so check in with them more frequently to ensure everything is on track. If you haven’t already, set up a visibility system.
Many companies are dedicated to ensuring that workers have the tools they need to handle work stress and thrive.
Communication
Not all of your employees will communicate in the same way. Some will appreciate the odd email to see if everything is on track, while others will need an hour of in-person or telephone communication.
There are a few things you can do, and one of them is to employ a coach or mentor for your staff. They will offer an unbiased and honest feedback approach that shows your team how to talk through issues.
It is also essential that you are available for them too. Perhaps you don’t have all the answers, but working together on it can be a powerful tool. Create individual plans for communication that work with each team member and allow them to guide how it works.
Daily stand-up
These can make some staff members uncomfortable, but they can help them feel accomplished and productive for others. A daily stand-up can involve your team talking about what they completed yesterday, where they need help and what they will be doing today.
It is also an excellent opportunity to highlight blocks or anything that can damage their process.
The daily stand-up offers leaders a quick way to keep up to date with what is happening and make adjustments when needed.
Time
There can be a disconnect between what leaders think should be happening timewise and how long tasks take. Before pressing for deliverables, see if you have a realistic idea of how long these processes take.
It might be that people who are taking longer to complete tasks shave too much in their workload or that there have been some unrealistic deadlines set. Get a realistic view of how long things should take, and then use that to help you measure the time that should be spent.
KPIs
Changing the goalposts halfway through a project is the fastest way to have unhappy staff. Instead, set clear KPIs at the start of the project, and if they are met early, discuss with the worker setting some fresh ones. The right KPIs can keep your staff motivated, engaged, and competitive.
Perhaps you are just starting out and getting your business off the ground is your main goal: Start 2022 with a bang: Channel your inner entrepreneur.
Top image: By The Lazy Artist Gallery from Pexels
