Most employees have experienced a lack of productivity when it comes to their professional responsibilities. However, not everyone will admit to this – especially not in front of their managers or bosses. Unfortunately, unproductive teams are easily noticed and people could get fired due to underperforming.
But a lack of productivity in the workplace is not only an employee issue. It can become a huge problem for the whole company if not quickly addressed and resolved by management. It can affect the quality of work, meeting deadlines for customers and projects, and of course, sales and the overall business’ performance.
Today, we will discuss how nurturing a culture of transparency can help with your employees’ productivity and what you can do to boost it.
How Can Transparency Help With Productivity?
Transparency is related to productivity because it leads to more trust between employees and management, better communication, and a greater level of dedication and engagement. With transparent relationships in the workplace, every employer can definitely count on their teams to do the job that they are expected to.
If your employees are not allowed to be open and honest with you, then they might feel demotivated and underappreciated since they don’t properly communicate with you. This can affect their productivity as they would not be as motivated to do their tasks, compared to when they know they can turn to you any time and be heard.
How To Increase Productivity Through Transparency
Now that we’ve talked about why you should make it a point to implement transparency in the workplace, let’s talk about the steps on how you can do it.
Get Organized
The first thing that you should do to increase workplace transparency is to clearly define job roles and delegate responsibilities. Each of your teammates should be informed about their responsibility so they would know what they are supposed to do – daily, monthly, yearly.
Choose an organizational tool that you and your employees can easily become comfortable with using such as SaaS BPM. It will help you and your HR department describe clearly each job role before it is assigned to a team member. Make a list of what should be their top priority, so they can stick to the plan. Share job responsibilities with your employees and discuss with them how to implement them into their own routines and personal organization.
That shows you take seriously every person you hire and they know why they are with you.
Schedule Regular Meetings and Group Activities
If you don’t have regular huddles and/or meetings with your team, then now is the time to start doing so. Having meetings will allow everyone in the team to align their priorities and progress about specific tasks or projects.
Create an agenda beforehand so you’d be all set for the meeting. This adds predictability which reduces stress and increases transparency. For example, you can start with updates from each team member – what they’ve done for the past week and what’s in store for the coming week. Next, you can discuss their blockers and how you can help them. Remember to plan time for their creative ideas and suggestions on how to improve productivity.
Lastly, leave some time for an informal chat, for sharing some personal stuff and talk on casual topics. This way, you and your whole team can create a friendly, supportive atmosphere and help each other to keep being productive.
Open Up Communication and Collaboration
You definitely want to make it easier for your employees to collaborate and easily communicate at the workplace as this greatly increases productivity. Make sure your employees have a tool to contact their managers at any time and know exactly how to address issues so that transparency is supported.
With a tool like SaaS BPM, all recurring activities and responsibilities are taken care of so that team members and managers have the time to communicate with each other. With the option to assign activities within the team, collaborations are easier here, too, and you can see when tasks are done and what needs a little bit more attention.
Inspiring ideas can come unexpectedly and they need to be noticed. Always keep your channels open so your team can easily contact you if needed.
Listen to Your Team
Communication is not just talking to but listening. Just as we have mentioned earlier, hearing your employees’ suggestions, blockers, and progress will help them become a lot more transparent with you. Before suggesting some of the things that you have in mind, let them talk and always invite them to provide feedback.
Let them know that they matter and that you are listening to what they say. This can help build trust, which strengthens transparency in the long run. Listening can be done during meetings and team huddles, but occasionally it is good to have one-on-one sessions. If your employees seem a little uncomfortable, then ask them if they need to schedule a personal talk with you so they can open up about their concerns.
Share Data Related to the Whole Team’s Performance and Success
If you want your employees to be completely honest with you and know where the whole team is heading, then you have to set a good example for them to follow. Start by gathering relevant data, referring to the company performance, and share it regularly with the team. You may use a pre-formatted presentation so everyone can easily track the overall and personal progress by it.
This will show your employees that you care about their personal input and goals and that you trust them enough to share strategic information. It will also inspire them to be actively voicing out their opinions and thinking of ways to help the company grow.
Conclusion
Without proper communication, trust, and openness, productivity in the workplace will be impossible. Your company would not be successful without a culture of transparency, so introduce clear rules and be ready to optimize them. Empower your colleagues and employees to better communicate on their jobs by applying the tips above. Consider introducing SaaS BPM today to improve internal organization, activities assignment, and to boost team productivity.