How you structure your day-to-day activities can make a huge impact on your own personal success, but getting up at the crack of dawn and eating your Wheaties won’t make your team more productive. At Azul Arc, we do our best to improve the productivity of every person on our team. Here are some of the strategies that we use regularly to stay on track:
Timing is everything.
The day and time you schedule team meetings can have a big impact on how much gets done. For example, Monday mornings and Friday afternoons are notoriously bad time slots for any sort of productive session, as everyone is either a) recovering from the weekend, or b) distracted by thoughts of the upcoming weekend. Try scheduling meetings Monday through Thursday during the afternoon instead. This leaves mornings, which are usually the most productive part of the day for everyone, open to check high-priority tasks off.
Know your team.
Personalities determine how well a team works together, and subsequently, how much they get done. Who is more flexible? Who is more sociable? Knowing the personality traits of each individual can help you to better delegate tasks, increasing the overall efficiency of the workflow process.
Staying focused with headphones.
Meet and greet.
With many businesses functioning on an international scale, it can be difficult to schedule conference time that works for every party. Video chat and other technologies have certainly made this easier. However, it is still important to get in some face time every now and then, as what we say over the phone or internet doesn’t always translate as well as it would in person. Giving everyone a chance to work together face to face will make it easier to work together when they are in different places. For getting things done quickly, we love Calendly.
Use your space wisely.
There may be plenty of companies that function just fine with an open office layout, but for the majority of productivity seekers, this design scheme doesn’t really fly. If absolute privacy is not an option, consider setting ground rules regarding noise levels and availability for discussions in order to prevent constant interruptions. (For example, sending out an office-wide memo letting everyone know not to disturb you during the hours of 10-11 a.m.) If all else fails, investing in a good pair of noise canceling headphones couldn’t hurt the cause.
Automate, automate, automate.
Technology is a beautiful thing, especially when it comes to productivity. You can now automate everything from client invoicing to the flow of emails coming into your inbox. Small tasks like these can add up, and you’ll be surprised at just how much time you can save by automating them. If you really want to get things rolling faster, check out tools like Zapier or IFTTT.
Not every strategy works the same for everyone. However, by experimenting with different approaches, you can find out what works best in making both you and your team more productive.