Does it often feel like employees are wasting time on the job? According to the Workplace Productivity Poll conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management, there seems to be agreement on the top factor that’s hindering productivity: 58% of HR professionals and 49% of employees view poor management as having the most negative impact on their daily efficiency.
So, if your company is suffering from unproductive workers, the first area to evaluate is management. An investment in professional development has the potential to stop an unproductive work environment at the source. Select management training courses that directly impact daily work, with a focus on delegation, discipline, communication, workplace habits and change management.
Delegation
Management training in delegation not only frees up some of your managers’ time, but also improves your employees’ confidence and attitudes. It’s easy to believe that if you want something done correctly, you should do it yourself. But, delegation training tells a different story.
With strong delegation skills, your managers are able to utilize their teams more effectively. When you invest in this type of management course, leaders learn to pinpoint their employees’ strengths and assign tasks that play to those gifts. Your managers also learn to establish processes that ensure productivity instead of attacking problems and tasks as they arise.
Discipline
Discipline isn’t a fun topic to tackle, but poor practices in this area have the capacity to cripple your team. Training in discipline equips your managers to turn a problem into a positive experience. With the right professional development program, your leaders learn to encourage self-disciple and provide feedback that is constructive. This is an important management skill to master. With the ability to turn disciplinary issues into circumstances with positive results, managers improve employee productivity.
Communication
There are few management skills that impact employee productivity as strongly as communication. By investing in the development of communication management skills, you enable your leaders to create a culture of open communication, where employees feel free to speak up when problems arise and make suggestions for improved work processes.
Tasks are also performed more efficiently when effective communication skills are in place. Instead of employees repeatedly asking for directions or feedback, expectations are easily understood. When managers and employees communicate successfully, there’s little time wasted, and your resources are utilized in a more productive way.
Workplace Habits
There is a difference between poor job performance and unproductive workplace habits. When evaluating employees, it’s important to determine whether they are performing inadequately or simply need to learn better workplace habits. If you want to improve employee productivity, assess this performance on a daily basis.
Professional development courses on improving workplace habits have a direct effect on efficiency. When managers are able to identify poor workplace habits among their teams and in themselves, it lights the path to boosting productivity. Once these habits have been identified, managers have the opportunity to coach improvement so that responsibilities are fulfilled with greater ease.
Change Management
Change often slows an organization down. When transitions are made or organizations are restructured, employees lose sight of the tasks that must be accomplished while they adjust to new systems. Change management training programs help managers maintain control of their teams and achieve smoother operations, regardless of what is happening within the company.
Need help identifying where professional development programs have the potential to impact your productivity the most? Evaluate your needs with an expert.
