Productivity is an elusive beast and hard to pin down. You want your team to get as much work done as possible, but you also want the work to reflect high quality.
Automating repetitive tasks is an important step towards higher productivity. But most small businesses and startups can do more without increasing their hours.
Here are nine proven ways to double the productivity of your marketing team:
1. Conduct a comprehensive review
Start by figuring out how much output your team is doing now. You might want to invest in a time tracking tool or use project management software. Don’t think that because one person works faster, they are better. An audit is just a tool to find the current level and work to improve it.
You don’t need to be fancy here. A simple spreadsheet or good notes will do the job.
Don’t assume that people who work 40 hours a week are productive. If they spend most of their time in useless Zoom meetings or hangouts, they’ll be busy all the time, but probably not productive.
It also doesn’t make sense to ask people to spend 40 hours a week in meetings and then ask them to complete work beyond that 40 hours. When people work more than 40 hours a week, they don’t produce the best results.
Fortunately, there are many ways to double your marketing efficiency without losing your edge and working no more than 40 hours a week.
Note how much actual work is done, customer feedback, experience level, and how helpful employees are to other employees.
And don’t get distracted by busy work. People may seem busy with to-do items on their lists. but, To-Do Lists Can Actually Hurt Your Business.
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2. Organize your office space
Your office may be hurting your productivity.
do you know Clutter can increase stress levels and reduce productivity? Chaos distracts some people more than others. Look around the office to find out what might be going on. If you don’t use it and won’t be using it for the next year or two, it’s time to sell it and generate some cash flow for your business.
If your team works remotely, help them understand the benefits of decluttering their workspace.
Organized spaces don’t interrupt workflow. Employees can zip files, find what they need, and immediately get back to the task at hand. Aim for getting rid of unwanted things.
You may also find that you don’t need that much space when you reduce clutterwhich can save your company money by reducing rent.
3. Prioritize health
Companies are dealing with unprecedented times. Many people are afraid to enter shared spaces with others and potentially make themselves or vulnerable family members sick.
Offer a generous sick leave policy. Your best employees don’t abuse their privileges. The few who do call in sick when they don’t need it can be fired. If someone has the virus, you don’t want them to come in anyway and spread the disease to the rest of the team.
When people aren’t feeling well, it’s hard to focus and do their best work. Prioritize the health and well-being of your teamyou will see a return on productivity levels.
4. Flexible
Schools across the country offer e-learning on a dime. This can be especially difficult for families when children suddenly need supervision during the day. How do you address these concerns so your employees can focus on great work?
Let people work from home when necessary so they can monitor their children to some extent when they are meeting via Zoom or other online meeting locations. Working hours are more flexible. It doesn’t matter whether your employees work from 8 am to 5 pm, or on a more flexible schedule that they need to overcome other challenges, as long as the project is completed on the stated date and time.
It is important that the finished product is in your inbox by the deadline. Flexibility gives your employees peace of mind and helps them work when they know they can be most productive. During the day, with the kids scrambling and their spouses having lunch at home, it might not be the ideal time to complete a big marketing campaign.
By increasing flexibility, you can help people become more resilient. This helps them cope with everyday difficulties and adversity and increases their productivity.
5. Let people work remotely
Global Workplace Analytics examined more than 4,000 studies and reports on agile workplaces.it finds Two-thirds of employees want to work from homeand 36% would choose it over a raise.
Some employees even said they would take a small pay cut if it meant they no longer had to commute to the office.
If you don’t let your team go remoteyou risk losing your best members to willing competitors.
It also benefits your marketing team, as remote workers are often more productive at home than in the office.
Consider the distractions in a typical office. The boss comes over to chat for a while and pulls you out of work. It takes a few minutes to remember where you are and get back to your best.
Everyone on the team goes to lunch and you follow, forgetting your place in the project until you read your notes. A rowdy colleague and her teenage daughter are arguing over two tables, the fire alarm goes off – it’s just a drill – and you hear people shuffling, gossiping and coughing.
A typical office can be distracting. At least a hybrid remote approach will benefit your team.
What if you are Start a business, consider adopting a remote-first mentality. This will save you rent, allow you to hire the best people anywhere in the world, and probably save you a lot of salary as well, especially if your startup or new business is located in a more expensive geographic market.
6. Encourage frequent breaks
The average person can work efficiently for a short period of time before losing focus.
Everyone is a little different, so you have to figure out how long you can focus and set up frequent breaks in between.
If you find yourself doing amazing work in 20 minutes and then starting to fail, you may want to set a timer and take quick breaks every half hour or so. Get up, stretch, do some light yoga or drink some water. Taking short breaks may make you more productive than working at full capacity for hours on end.
It’s also easier for your body to rest because you won’t be hunched over the keyboard for too long. When you take care of your body’s needs, you’ll have less back pain and strain on your neck and shoulders.
7. Clarify roles
One of the things that hurts the productivity of a marketing team is that when things crack, someone has to go back and find the missing pieces. Clarifying roles and the tasks everyone is responsible for helps avoid such problems.
If Sam’s job is to complete all the images for a social media campaign, the project manager shouldn’t be looking for those assets. Sam knows this is his job and should be uploaded by a certain date.
Clarifying roles and tasks can also avoid misunderstandings among colleagues. If a person feels that they are doing more than their fair share of work, they can start to feel bad. Clarifying who is in charge can help reduce tensions and keep everyone working toward the same goal. If in doubt, refer to the written documentation on the various roles on the team.
Team managers have to guide people through the tasks they need to accomplish. People can sometimes step out of their roles to help colleagues, but it has to go both ways.
8. Look for workflow patterns
See your team and everyone’s daily workflow. Are some things inefficient? Maybe your day starts with a long, protracted meeting.
Do you need so many meetings? Maybe a five-minute Scrum meeting would be better.
Are there bottlenecks throughout the day? Are social media managers waiting for illustrations from graphic designers? If so, how do you make sure they are a day or two ahead?
9. Diverse team members
Diverse teams work together to figure out the best way to get things done. You need the perfect mix of young college graduates, seasoned professionals and people from different cultures.
A new marketer is full of exciting and fresh ideas for promoting the word. They may be better adapted to the digital world.
Seasoned professionals have made mistakes and know how to avoid them. They can look at a campaign and instantly tell you what works and what doesn’t.
A diverse team exchanges ideas with each other in a respectful manner. Each member can learn something from other members that can be applied to their work.
Grow as a team
You can hire the best people, automate repetitive processes and encourage your employees, but everyone still has to learn to work together effectively. Look for opportunities for team building and see mistakes as learning experiences from which you can both grow and improve.
Over time, your marketing team will become happier and more productive when you apply the insights we shared above.
