One simple way to improve project productivity
Productivity is the one thing that every project manager, no matter what field they are working in, and regardless of whether this is their first project, or they have been working in project management for a number of years, will constantly find themselves striving for.
It is something that any project management plan is based around. The premise that a certain amount of work will have been undertaken on a project within a set timeframe so that the relevant goals are met at set periods within the structure of the project plan. It is the job of the project manager to ensure that productivity is up and these goals are met in a timely manner.
What is productivity exactly?
Productivity is connected to the words effectiveness and efficiency. Being effective means producing the expected result or output, while being efficient means doing work in the best way possible without wasting time and energy. If you combine both of these concepts, then what you should get is productivity. Unfortunately, this is not always what ends up happening, A project manager never knows what they will end up juggling. As part of their role, they will be expected to have the project management skills to juggle tasks like managing the expectations of a client, managing team resources, troubleshooting any issues that occur and also knowing how to use the project management tools at their disposal in order to get the best results possible from the project. This is on top of the other responsibilities that may fall into their remit. Any one of these things has the potential to cause them an issue that may affect productivity overall.
The solution
A quick look around the internet will tell you that there are plenty of different ways that a project manager can improve their project productivity. All of them will be great suggestions of the steps that can be taken and the measures that can be put in place. However, there is in fact one very simple way in which you can improve productivity in your project.
This one thing is to ensure that each and every member of your project team feels valued in the role that they are filling. It really is that simple happy team members are more productive. There has been a significant amount of research that has been undertaken on the subject of productivity in the workplace and the one thing that all of these studies that have been carried out over the years found was that unhappy employees are not as productive as happy ones.
A study carried out by Warwick University found that those who are happy in their work are in fact up to 12% more productive. It actually doesn’t take much for people to become happy in the workplace, either. Good communication, including listening to your team members can go a long way towards making people feel like their opinions matter and that they are respected in the workplace. It makes them feel like they matter to the team and that their opinions count. When team members feel valued in this way, they are more likely to stay in their current job and this in turn offers stability to your project team, which is something that can help with productivity. After all, bedding in new members to an established project team can be very disruptive for the productivity of your team and the success of your project.
