How to Increase Team Productivity: 6 Proven Strategies

Team productivity measures the output your team produces within a given period of time. Increasing your productivity doesn’t mean pushing your team to the absolute limit; instead, it means removing friction so that the work that matters gets done faster.

In this article, we’ll cover six practical ways to increase team productivity, including where productivity management software fits in. Let’s get into it.

1. Start with an audit to increase productivity at work

Before you start implementing any tactics to increase productivity in the workplace, it’s essential to take stock of which specific areas need improvement. And, to see whether any of your interventions actually work, make sure to do an audit and look at key productivity metrics before and after you introduce any changes.

Here’s how to do a simple team productivity audit:

1. Talk to your team members individually and have them walk you through their daily work routines to gauge what their primary productivity struggles are, 
2. Have a group discussion with your team to hear how they see their shared performance and identify weak points,
3. Analyze individual and team performance metrics or, if you don’t have them – implement them asap,
4. Gather client feedback about their experience with your products/services and how they rate the accuracy and efficiency of your customer-facing employees.

Make sure to go into this audit with a neutral mindset, and encourage your staff to be honest about how exactly they spend (and waste) their time at work. Internal productivity audits, paired with findings from workforce management software will help you make informed decisions to increase team productivity.

2. Establish clear goals to increase workplace productivity

Without clear goals, expectations, performance metrics, and procedures – how will you know if your  efforts to increase productivity are getting you anywhere? Productivity isn’t just about getting stuff done. It’s about getting the right stuff done. So, to increase productivity at the workplace, the very first area you should focus on is establishing clarity about what exactly you want your team to achieve and how you expect them to do it.

Goal setting has been one of the most researched areas in psychology since the 1960’s, and this comprehensive research summary demonstrates that what matters most in boosting job performance is goal specificity and difficulty as well as breaking down complex goals into smaller steps.

Here’s how you can use all that goal setting research to increase productivity at work:

Use the SMART goal method

Define these five criteria when writing down any goal: is it Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound? A well-written SMART goal will look very detailed. 

Below is an example for how to write the following goal with the SMART method: Increase the marketing team’s social media engagement by 20% over the next three months.

SMART	Example
Specific	Increase social media engagement by 20% through targeted campaigns on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Measurable	Track engagement metrics such as likes, shares, comments, and follower growth using social media analytics tools.
Achievable	Allocate additional resources, including one extra team member dedicated to social media, and a budget for paid promotions.
Relevant	Improving social media engagement aligns with the company’s broader objective of increasing brand awareness and customer interaction.
Time-Bound	Achieve this 20% increase within the next three months, with progress reviews at the end of each month.

Align team goals with organizational objectives

Ensure that individual and team goals support the broader company objectives. The entire team should be on the same page, and each project or task should be considered from the perspective of how it contributes to the broader company objectives.

Regularly review and adjust team and individual goals

Establish regular check-ins and assessments to keep the team aligned with their goals and to help them stick to productivity-supporting behaviors. For managers, this will help them keep track of what is being done and what the priorities are, but on an individual level, this will help avoid tunnel vision and give a clear view of their progress and priorities.

3. Build an engaging and supportive work environment

A positive, engaging, and supportive work environment significantly boosts productivity at work by fostering employee morale and motivation. When team members feel valued and supported, they are more likely to contribute their best efforts. Open communication, recognition, and opportunities for growth create a sense of belonging and purpose, reducing stress and increasing job satisfaction, which, in turn, enhances overall team performance and efficiency.

Here are some ideas to create a more engaging and positive workplace to increase team productivity:

• Encourage and model open communication: Schedule regular check-ins and feedback sessions with the team to help address issues promptly and foster trust.

• Make it possible for employees to have a work-life balance: A stressed and burnt out employee is very unlikely to be productive. Make sure that the workload is split equitably among employees and that they have the resources and support to perform at the expected level. Try adopting a flexible working hour policy and offer remote work options to reduce burnout and increase productivity at the workplace.

• Create a comfortable office space: Ergonomic furniture, adequate lighting, and a clean and organized work environment contribute to better focus and efficiency. To help remote and hybrid employees benefit from an optimal work environment, offer financial support to purchase equipment and best-practice guidance.

4. Increase team productivity with time management

Effective time management is crucial for boosting workplace productivity as it ensures tasks are completed efficiently and deadlines are met. Implementing time management techniques like Pomodoro and time blocking helps employees prioritize work, minimize procrastination, and focus on high-impact activities. 

Here’s how to increase staff productivity with time management strategies:

Prioritize tasks

Effective prioritization ensures focus on high-impact activities, reduces stress, and helps meet deadlines efficiently. Use tools like the Eisenhower Matrix to distinguish between urgent and important tasks.

Work in time blocks

Allocate dedicated time slots for focused work, meetings, and breaks. This will boost productivity at work, get things done faster, and help you be more realistic about how much time it takes to complete tasks. Plus, time blocking keeps you focused on one task at a time, minimizing reactive work and scattered multitasking.

Use time tracking software

Tools like DeskTime allow employees to log their work hours and generate insights about how work time is spent, and help identify areas for improvement. Research from Harvard Business Review suggests that people work harder when they are being observed and even when they feel they’re being observed. Their study revealed that a camera recording people was as effective as a human observer. While the results of this study are fascinating, we are not suggesting that workplace surveillance is helpful or productive. Total workplace surveillance (one that thoroughly monitors employee devices) feels intrusive, distracting, and it raises ethical questions.

However, if what you need is the feeling of accountability (without being observed), having a detailed overview of your work day may help you avoid procrastination and find ways to increase your personal productivity, which is where employee time tracking apps come in. Tools like DeskTime simply track the active apps and websites on the device and produce accurate time logs, without the need to do any deeper surveillance.

Encourage breaks

Regular short breaks, especially if they include physical activity, help recharge energy and improve focus, ultimately boosting staff productivity at work. When you step away from your desk and take your mind off work for some time, it serves as a mental reset, allowing you to return with fresh ideas and renewed vigor. In addition, it helps prevent eye strain or possible health risks associated with sitting in one place for hours.

Set clear and realistic deadlines

Tasks without a deadline can easily get deprioritized and even forgotten altogether. Set clear and realistic deadlines to keep the team on track and prevent procrastination. For bigger projects broken down into smaller steps, set a deadline for every step.

5. Increase productivity with software and automation

Embracing productivity software and automation can work wonders for streamlining processes and cutting down the time spent on repetitive tasks, which can increase productivity as a result. This is especially crucial for remote teams where keeping everyone on the same page can be challenging.

• Project and task management tools are non-negotiable for productivity: Platforms like Monday.com, ClickUp, Asana, and Trello are game-changers. They help you manage and delegate tasks efficiently while tracking progress in real-time. These tools make it easier to see who’s doing what, set deadlines, and ensure nothing falls through the cracks.
• Automate repetitive tasks: Automation tools like Zapier or Microsoft Power Automate can handle the mundane tasks that eat up your team’s time. By automating processes like data entry or email responses, your team can focus on more important, high-impact activities.
• Use AI tools for specific, well-defined tasks: AI is most useful for productivity when applied narrowly. Think meeting transcription and summarization, drafting first-pass content or emails, code completion for developers, or surfacing insights from data your team already collects. Treat AI as a way to remove one specific bottleneck rather than a blanket fix for team productivity.

6. Boost productivity at work through employee recognition

Employee recognition is a subtle yet powerful way to increase productivity in the workplace. The genuine expression of acknowledgment and praise of desired employee behavior or achievements can go a long way. It’s estimated that employees are 2.7 times more likely to be highly engaged if they believe they’ll be recognized for their efforts. Furthermore, a study by Deloitte found that organizations with effective recognition programs have 14% higher employee engagement, productivity and performance rates than those without one.

Here’s how you can make your employees feel valued and enhance their productivity at work through recognition:

• Implement a productivity recognition program: Regularly acknowledge and celebrate individual and team achievements by saying “thank you” both individually and publicly.

• Offer individualized incentives: When offering incentives, it’s important to give employees what they actually want – one employee may value extra time off while another may appreciate a bonus, and the third may prefer a public celebration of their achievement. Make sure you get to know your team members and their preferred forms of recognition before handing out rewards. Some examples of incentives for outstanding performance are bonuses, gift cards, and extra time off.

• Provide regular constructive feedback: Regular, specific feedback helps employees improve and feel recognized. Schedule consistent check-ins, highlight employee strengths, and offer them actionable suggestions to boost morale and productivity.

Bringing it all together

There’s no single fix for team productivity. It is a combination of the right goals, a supportive environment, efficient time management, the right tools, and genuine employee recognition. Start with the audit, pick one or two areas that need the most work, and build from there.

FAQ

How can task management software help improve team productivity?

Task management tools like Asana, ClickUp, or Trello make it easier to assign work, track deadlines, and see what everyone’s working on at a glance, reducing time lost to status-check meetings and unclear ownership.

Are the workplace productivity strategies different for remote or IT teams?

The core strategies apply to any team, but remote and IT teams often benefit most from time tracking and asynchronous communication tools, since there’s less visibility into day-to-day work than in an office setting. Check out our list of the best tools for remote work!

How do you increase productivity for a scrum or agile team?

The same fundamentals apply: clear goals, regular retrospectives (a built-in version of the audit above), and removing blockers quickly. Sprint planning and daily standups already build in a lot of the goal-setting and check-in structure described in this article.

Article written by

Zane Skuja

Zane is a freelance writer with an interest in productivity and the modern workplace.