The Key Ingredients To Creating A Well-Oiled Workforce

Your individual efforts count for some of your company’s success, but much more of it will depend on the talents and efforts of your workforce. If they’re operating at full capacity, then your entire business is operating at full capacity. And that’s just what needs to be happening if you’re to reach the level of success you have planned. But how do you go about this? Your skills are in business and how to make that tick, how do you motivate the people you’re working with? Now that you’re a business leader, rather than just a player, it’s about time you learned. Here are a few tips to get you going.

Ask For The Right Amount

You’ve hired a person to do one particular job, but now that they’ve settled in surely they won’t mind doing this other task that’s popped up. And you’re also entering a busy period, so would they possibly mind doing this new task and also staying later than planned to do it? You can get away with this once, but it is not a long term solution. For starters, your employee won’t be doing the task as well as someone who is trained to do the task would. Second, they’re going to be burned out. Don’t push your staff too hard; you’ll tire them out and productivity will fall. If needed, hire another employee.

The Tools to Succeed

Invest in your workforce, absolutely, but also make sure you’ve investing in the infrastructure they need to succeed. You can’t perform a Grade A task with Grade B materials. Make sure you have the best software and hardware they need to do their job to the best of their ability. You’ll want to have a top quality CMMS (computerized maintenance management system) in place so downtime is kept to an absolute minimum. Also, ensure that you’re reviewing the tools you’re using every few months and update them as needed. Invest in the right tools and they’ll pay for themselves in the long run.

Spreading the Pressure

No single or group of employees should be feeling under pressure while the rest of the team is running on autopilot. Naturally, there will be sectors of your workforce that have to do more than others from time to time, but it’s your job to ensure that any extra workloads are distributed evenly. Workforces that have some employees feeling the strain more than others are much less likely to be on the same page, and for everything to work well you need a cohesive team. If one person feels pressure, then all team members should be feeling pressure to one extent or another.

Cut the Talk

There is always a lingering threat in any workforce, and that is procrastination! Even with the best of intentions, sometimes teams can find a way to end up spending a lot of time…achieving nothing. This is most obviously and frequently found in meetings, which are held more than they should be. The amount of time that meetings waste is up for debate, but the general consensus is that they’re most unnecessary. If something needs to be said, just say it, and let people get back on with their work. Or you can try one of the new innovate approaches to meetings!

Worker Engagement

There is nothing more harmful to the prosperity of your business than a workforce that is disengaged. When this happens, everything runs on autopilot. Workers no longer exhibit the drive necessary to take your company to the next level. The hunger is gone. Any single individual employee who’s showing signs of disengagement can be motivated to turn it around; an entire workforce is another matter entirely. Make sure your workforce is able to feel challenged and invigorated by what they’re doing. They should see how their efforts have a positive impact on the success of the company. In your efforts to foster engagement, don’t forget that employees will be looking to you, the leader, and determining how they will act. If you’re showing the attributes that you want your workers to have, they’re much more likely to adopt them for themselves.

Worker Freedom

Think back, if you can, to a time when you were micromanaged by someone above you. It was frustrating, wasn’t it, not being able to properly feel the freedom you need to do the job to the best of your ability? Now you’re in charge of a company, and you might think different rules apply – but they don’t. If you want your company to succeed, you have to let go of trying to control how your employees work. You’ve put the time into ensuring you hired the person who was right for the job, so let them get on with it! Not doing so is a surefire way to have a high turnover of staff, which is just about the worst thing that can happen if you’re trying to create a well-oiled workforce!

Financial Packages and Other Rewards

Your employees are driven and talented, and they really want to give it their all…but they need to feel valued. You probably already know that worker engagement and productivity is closely linked to how happy they are in their job. And what makes people happy? Rewards! Competitive salary packages that are reviewed every few months and other perks can go a long way to ensuring your workforce has no reason to look out into the working world and see if anything better is out there.

Finally: Be Open

Give your workforce the vital ingredients to do good things and they’ll get you results, but the buck stops with you. You need to be open to your workforce, be able to approach and show yourself to be a good listener. You’re not separate from your team; you’re just the guy and girl at the top of the pyramid. If you emit the right attitudes, then you’ll have a team that wants to succeed, for themselves, for you, and the company that they believe in.

Main photo: Pixabay

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• Employees
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