Image by: Greg Vojtko
By: Giovanni Fields

Getting each and every staff member on board to put in %100 percent of effort at any given moment can be quite the obstacle. From their perspective, as long as their getting the job done at a minimal level what reason do they have to expend any unnecessary effort? Well, in order for a business to run, it’s okay for employees to clock in and gruel their way through their 8 hour shifts, but if a company wants to thrive then those latter employees are going to have to work at their peak capacity.

There’s a big difference between working and working hard—and the first thing you will notice when you visit the workplace of any successful major corporation is the fact that the employees are working not only to get paid, but because they enjoy the rewards, benefits and challenge of doing the work. These traits may be few and far between in a typical employee, but if you follow these few steps provided, you’ll be one step closer to achieving the ideal workplace.

#1) Match Employees with the Appropriate Skills

Every individual has their strengths and weaknesses. As manager, it will be your job to apply the specific behavioral traits a person exhibits to the appropriate position. For example—if you have great analytical skills and are a very delicate thinker, being inventive and creative in your approaches, clients might respond well to them. But if you have this unique ability and are hindered at a position which requires you to remain behind a computer screen, having to abide by rules and regulations that restrict your abilities, it would result in less production in the company.

By matching specific employees’ positions with their appropriate skill set you will be saving a lot of time and stress when it comes to any issues you may be having with efficiency. Demanding that all the coworkers you hire to become the greatest multi-tasker’s in the world might seem logical, but the reality of that being the case is unrealistic for complex positions.

As commander and chief it would be your duty to determine which of your colleagues belongs where so you can develop their skills in that particular area over a long period of time. This will not only increase their efficiency more and more as time passes, but will also allow you to solidify a certain area of your company.

#2) Annual Reviews

In order to get a clear view of any obstacles that may be hindering your company from top quality efficiency, once or twice a year senior management should conduct some sort of review process. As the head guy in charge, it may be easy for you to overlook whats happening at the lower levels and you may find yourself detached from the days of envelope pushing and grinding in the trenches as a bottom level admin.

But one thing senior management must remember is the fact that people can’t stay motivated and execute their tasks to the best of their abilities without continuous support from senior management. Annual reviews are important because they will provide a template as to what your colleagues need to improve upon or change in order to work more efficiently.

#3) Focus

Focus is essentially creating a link between what your company needs its workers to accomplish, and eliminating as many obstacles as possible that might be diverting time and attention away from the goal. Focus will make the process from start to finish hastier and will inevitably lead to more productiveness in the work place. Is your finest executive spending unnecessary time on low-importance administrative duties? Is your senior executive executing tasks that that can be done with a menial effort?

These are questions you must ask yourself with going forward, and if the answer is yes to any of those, then it may be necessary to re evaluate the goals of aspirations of the organization so you can structure your business accordingly.

Like the old saying goes: time is money, and if you have all your highest paid people wasting it on low value tasks, then that will lead in decrease in productivity for your company. Know the worth and importance of each of the duties your organization requires, and delegate the less skilled positions to the lower paid administrators  and higher paid to the higher.This is vital to keeping the workplace focused, effective and in control. 

 Is your business running better than a well oiled high tech machine? Don’t be selfish! Share any secrets you have below and we’ll thank you for it later!