When we have a goal and the right kind of determination, productivity is easily within our grasp. We wake up energized to tackle projects, feel excited to time block, and get a rush every time we climb that next mountain on our way to success. But what about when attaining your ONE Thing requires a team effort?
For many of us, our jobs require working in groups or, if you’re a manager or entrepreneur, working with groups in order to accomplish goals. With a series of differing agendas and personalities, it can be difficult to stay on task and continue full steam ahead towards efficiency. Here are three surefire ways to make your team or business a lean, mean productivity machine.
1. Scale Your Vision
Most goals are easier to manage when we first start out because they just require our own work to fulfill them. Then, when our businesses start to grow, we find ourselves unsure what to do next. Do we hire an assistant for the office? One for our personal lives? What about a social media expert? The next steps any new business takes can be daunting because we’re taking off into uncharted territory.
Instead of making a quick decision, take some time to figure out what your vision and long term goals for your future company will look like. Find other businesses that you admire, and find out how they planned for their own future and growth. Then, create a model for your business that can function as the basis for all of your future growth. That way, you have a head start on creating a productivity machine that’s firing on all cylinders.
2. Cut the Fat
If you work in a kitchen, you spend a lot of time trimming fat in a very literal sense. You do this to help create a delicious, lean final product. Apply this same thinking to your business. You need to analyze everything: how you manage your time, your coworkers, your management structure, your employees. Are there redundancies? Areas that could use improvement? Maybe there are positions that are no longer required as your business has grown, or need to be updated to encourage growth.
Making these changes can be hard, and may require parting ways with certain positions or employees. But, without this occasional trimming, we end up bogged down with an unsavory, heavy meal that isn’t at all palatable. No one wants that to eat, and no one wants that for their business.
3. Be a Team Player
This may sound obvious, but creating the right team dynamic is an integral part of creating a productive system. Often times, it can be hard to let go of the reigns, or share tasks with others. We have a concrete vision, and we’re certain that we have all of the tools to reach our goal by ourselves. This is faulty thinking.
Instead, think like Navy SEAL Admiral William McRaven, and learn to rely on the other people around you. No one excels at everything, and there are always going to be people who are more talented than we are. When you are growing your business, you don’t want to be the smartest person in the room. Instead of fearing the talents of others, learn to put your ego aside and create a core of reliable people who can take up the tasks we need help with. No one can argue that SEALs aren’t great team players and goal achievers. So, use the same lessons to inform your own teamwork.
Whether you’re just one person working with a team, a new entrepreneur, or a longtime business owner all of these steps can help you create a company that runs on efficiency. What are some of the things you do to make your business highly effective? Make sure to stop by our Facebook page and let us know! Or, post a picture of you and your team being productivity machines with #Hustle4theONEthing. The best photo will be featured on our Facebook page at the end of the week.