According to Quixy, employees from every sector or profession show only 60% productivity during the day.
High productivity depends on the efficiency of work and the number of efforts. Work efficiency is a critical factor in the modern business world, whereby managers and team leaders have to work diligently. They are also responsible for generating productive results.
A question arises here: what is productivity, and how can it be measured?
This entire blog is based on resolving this question. The goal here is to learn about productivity but not in the most traditional sense of checking off to-do lists.
Whether you are a manager of a team or a new leader, this comprehensive guide will give you a detailed explanation of productivity and ways to measure it.
Let’s get started:
Also read: How to Boost Your Team’s Productivity
What is productivity?
In simple terms, productivity is the output of the efforts put in by a team. It can be labor, money, a professional team, or anyone.
In the world of business, productivity is measured by the number of produced results. For instance, a manufacturing company calculates its productivity on the basis of the number of products produced. At the same time, a corporate company estimates its productivity on the basis of client satisfaction and generated income.
How productivity is important in personal and professional life
Being productive is not just limited to the workplace. It helps a person grow in their life and in their professional zone as well. Read more to know how:
| Personal life | Professional life |
| Being productive for yourself helps you manage your time and promotes a better work-life balance. | High productivity is the use of your skills in professional life. It is rewarded as promotion, rewards and job security. |
| Productivity helps achieve personal goals like learning new skills, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and completing personal projects. | In professional life, productivity stands as the best use of available resources like time, money, and performing your 100%. |
| By balancing everything, you avoid rushing for a particular work done. Thus, you can maintain a calm and balanced life. | Productivity at the workplace gives you a competitive advantage over your competitors and increases your value. |
| Completing tasks and achieving desired goals boosts self-esteem. It increases motivation for further productivity. | When you are productive at the workplace, you become a high-value employee, and you feel more engaged to succeed in your professional role. |
Key components of productivity
Now, it’s time to discuss some key components of productivity. I have brought you four factors to understand that will help you measure productivity. Let’s unwrap them:
- Goal Setting
It refers to the process of defining objectives that individuals or organizations aim to achieve. Setting clear goals provides direction and motivation, while also helping to align efforts and measure progress. SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) break down large goals into smaller tasks that help in regularly reviewing and adjusting goals as needed.
- Focus and concentration
It is all about focusing and controlling any distractions that may affect an ongoing task. Maintaining focus enhances productivity while also improving efficiency and reducing the time needed to complete tasks. Some common techniques that can be used here are turning off notifications, using time blocking strategies, and practicing mindfulness to create a conducive environment.
Productivity automatically enhances when a team works without major distractions from emails, Facebook, or Twitter, etc.
- Prioritization
It includes recognizing what should be done today first. You should prioritize those tasks over others in a busy schedule. This may range from the due dates and any urgent work which needs to be done on the same day.
Some methods for prioritization include ABC prioritization where ranking tasks in order of importance, Eisenhower Matrix that includes categorizing tasks into urgent, important, non-urgent and non-important.
- Motivation and Commitment
The inner drive and enthusiasm to pursue goals while commitment involves high motivation and commitment. This should sustain regularly especially during challenging times.
Some of the techniques for fostering motivation and commitment include setting meaningful goals, recognizing achievements, fostering a positive work environment and aligning individual goals with organizational objectives.
How to Measure Productivity: 5 Ways to Know
Every company and firm has its method of measuring productivity. But here I am sharing with you five ways that must be included for measuring productivity right.
- Output measurement
It refers to the quantity of results produced by your team or an individual over a specific time. For the sales team, productivity can be measured by tracking sales figures, project completions, and customer satisfaction ratings. You can also measure performance metrics like efficiency, effectiveness, quality, and timeliness to find out how effectively the team is meeting client’s needs. These metrics will help you identify the team’s efforts and loopholes to improve performance further.
- Input measurement
In input measurement, you can evaluate productivity by tracking the resources used by the team. For instance, you can use labor hours, materials, energy consumptions, and complete investment. In order to evaluate the performance metric of the team, try to figure out these points:
- Labor productivity: Output by every employee per hour
- Material efficiency: Output by every material used per unit
- Energy efficiency: Outcome of per unit energy consumed
- Capital: Total investment to complete the task
- Number of task completion
Tracking how long your team takes to complete the entire task also helps in measuring productivity. You can simply use a project management & team collaboration tool, which will assist you in managing tasks, assigning/modifying a task, new task delegation, employee management, and many more.
In short, high productivity of your team will take less time to complete a task.
- Get feedback
Getting feedback from the team is also a way of measuring productivity. The performance of every team member contributes to the quality of work. That’s why you need to arrange a one-on-one or group meeting with your team. Take feedback to every team member to know what problems they are facing.
If you have the team’s feedback, then you have already solved 40% of the problems. Now, all you are left with is to analyze the issue and create a solid strategy. Thus, you will not only measure productivity but also prepare your team to perform better than last time.
- Employee timing
You should always keep a record of your employee performance and their active hours. Measuring how long your team needs to complete a task is also a way to measure productivity. It helps identify bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and the potential of your team.
You can collect data like resources, active employees, and working hours and then relate it with the output. Accumulating the above data will automatically find out obstacles hindering your team’s productivity.
Overcoming common productivity challenges
For the right productivity measurement and to take the right decisions, it is important to know the occurring challenges and how to tackle them.
Employee disengagement
A disengaged employee will work exactly like a machine. He or she will be repeating tasks instead of learning and improving. It can slow down the work process, cause delays in project completion, and impact the overall productivity.
To tackle this issue, you have to establish clear communication. You need to tell your employees your long-term goals and expectations and keep taking daily/weekly feedback to strengthen your team.
Poor time management
Juggling tasks can affect deadlines which will lead to poor productivity. So, you need to train your team in a manner to prioritize tasks according to their daily work strategy.
If you are facing this challenge, then you need to encourage your team. There are a few strategies like Eisenhower Matrix or you can simply suggest your team to create time stamps for every task. It will help them manage their time along with tasks, which will assist you in measuring productivity well.
Distraction
Employee’s constant use of mobile phones and giving them excessive flexibility always kills their focus. It makes them less goal-oriented, which causes an extension of deadlines.
Research by TeamStage shows that 75% of employees become more productive after they attend training sessions on how to avoid distractions.
Therefore, you should conduct meetings and arrange sessions for such issues. I suggest trying blocking techniques. Also, tell your team members to silence their mobile phones and keep all the distracting items inside their bags. Tell them to work and focus fully constantly for 25 minutes; then, they can take a break for 5 minutes. It is a proven practice of generating good results.
Unclear expectations
Assigning tasks to your team is not a complete process. You have to tell them the goal of the task, result expectations, deadline, and things to do or not to do. Vogue tasks mislead the team and prevent them from performing to their full potential.
You can try the SMART technique, which stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. It will ensure everyone is working with clear objectives.
Conclusion
Being productive isn’t about completing tasks. It’s also about striking a balance between efficiency and accomplishing goals. By defining what productivity means to you and using measurement methods, you can establish a system that enables you to maximize your capabilities.
Keep in mind that when you’re productive, you’re likely to feel happier and more satisfied. Therefore, seize the reins, try approaches, and devise a productivity plan tailored to your lifestyle.
Read more: 36 Best Tools for Maximizing Productivity at Workplace
FAQs
What are the 4 types of productivity?
Capital productivity, material productivity, labor productivity, and total factor productivity are the four types.
What is the concept of productivity?
It is the efficiency of employees working to convert the input into desired output like service or product.
How to calculate productivity?
You can simply use the formula: Productivity = Output / Input.
What is a good productivity percentage?
The good productivity percentage lies between 70% – 75%.
Author Bio:
Meet Sandeep Kashyap, the CEO of ProofHub who is transforming project management and team collaboration with his innovative solutions. With an unwavering passion for leading his team to success, Sandeep’s mantra is simple – “keep growing, don’t stop”. When he’s not busy at work, Sandeep loves to explore new destinations and challenge himself with trekking adventures.
