Managing Employee Productivity for Maximum Results - A 5 Step Process

At the end of the day, people feel good about their jobs when they know they've made a contribution to the company by performing their tasks efficiently and effectively. And the better somebody feels about their job, the better they perform. As managers or small business owners, it is our responsibility to guide and direct employees to achieve maximum results. Yet some managers feel they are "micromanaging" if they get too involved in the daily activities of the people they manage.

So what's the flip side?

They give their employees too much autonomy when it comes to determining and prioritizing daily activities. There is a time proven management tool called the 80/20 principle that states: 20% of our activities create 80% of our desired results. With that in mind, it is vital to coach people to engage in high-payoff activities to achieve high-payoff results .

Here's a five step process that's simple yet incredibly effective:

Step one. Instruct your employee (this process is best done 1 on 1) to create a written task list at the beginning of each day. Explain the concept of the 80/20 principle and that you are going to coach them to maximize their daily productivity.

Step two. Review their task list to make sure that you agree with its content. If you don’t agree with their list, ask them why certain items are not included etc versus telling them to include. This will ultimately help the employee self-coach themselves through this process.

Step three. Ask your employee to prioritize each task according to importance. Make sure you agree with how they are prioritizing their tasks. If not, this is a good opportunity to coach them as to why certain tasks are more important than others.

Step four. Direct the employee to estimate completion time for each task. (Have them note the estimated time beside each task.) Instruct them to make a note of the actual completion time once done.

Step five. At the end of the day, review the employee’s list and debrief their activities to determine if there are better ways to handle certain tasks in the future.

Continue this process daily as required...

There are many companies where a daily prioritized task list is optional. This simply flies in the face of common sense and good judgment. Make sure you're helping your staff be the best they can be so they feel good about their contributions to your company's goals.