beproductive.ie productivity consultant Moira Dunne contributed to this excellent article on Team Productivity & Flexibility by @aribendersky for the @salesforce 360 blog. Here is the link to the article ‘Want a more productive team. Ask them how they want to work’ on the Salesforce website. You can read the full transcript below.
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Want a more productive team? Ask them how they want to work.
Your team wants flexibility. You need productivity. Here’s how the right digital tools and best practices, like flex team agreements, can help you get more of both.
by Ari Bendersky, Contributing Editor
Workers’ expectations of how they want to work have shifted in the last two years. With increased remote and hybrid work came more flexible schedules, allowing people to set up their days to suit how they want to work — when and wherever they like. To increase productivity, managers need to ask their teams how they want to work — and support that.
“Research consistently shows when team members and managers have more flexibility, a.k.a. autonomy, productivity goes up, burnout decreases, and wellbeing increases,“ said Carson Tate, managing partner at Working Simply, a consulting and executive coaching firm.
In fact, a 2021 Gartner survey showed nearly half of the 10,000 respondents across the U.S., Europe and APAC said having more flexibility led to greater productivity. Before the pandemic, remote work and flexible schedules were outliers. These days, it’s becoming the norm, especially as people’s work and personal lives have become more intertwined. That flexibility has also become easier with tools such as Slack, which connects everyone in your business and supports the way people naturally work together — in real-time or not, in-person and remote.
Flexibility is not just where and when you work, it’s about choice.
“Flexibility is not just where and when you work, it’s about choice,” said Sheela Subramanian, vice president, Future Forum at Slack and co-author of “How The Future Works.” “The pandemic has offered an opportunity for people to realize a new way of working and a new way of living. It’s important for us to acknowledge what that looks like, is unique to every individual, and build a way to empower that type of behavior.”
People historically have had productivity peaks before and after lunch. But in the last two years, research has emerged showing some people – by choice or by necessity – also have a third productivity peak in the evening.
This has created opportunities for managers and leaders to embrace this new working environment, but also strike a balance between giving people free reign and ensuring they still respect others’ time and schedules in order for work to actually get done. Here, we discuss ways to put all of this into practice.
Productivity Training & Resources
Want a More Productive Team? Ask them how they want to work. At beproductive.ie we run lots of productivity team workshops and webinars to help you understand your team’s requirements. We can deliver in your offices if you are running a team event or we can deliver our sessions online.
If would like to book a session, contact our Moira to find the best solution for you. For further tips on productivity, you can access the beproductive.ie blog here.
Original article written by Ari Bendersky with contributions from Productivity Consultant Moira Dunne, founder and director of beproductive.ie
Main photo from the Salesforce 360 blog.
