Loving what you do for work offers team productivity benefits. First there is more happiness and satisfaction for a job well done. Second, enjoying what you do also contributes to better overall health. This means less sick days known to reduce team productivity.
The study, “Doing what I do best”: The association between skill utilization and employee health with healthy behavior as a mediator, finds that employees who use their skills and abilities are happier, more productive and healthier. The higher respondents agreed with the statement “At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day” also reported the following:
- Lower instances of poor or fair health,
- Lower instances of hypertension, and
- Less high cholesterol.
Gallup also finds that 60 percent of employees who do what they do best in their work role is a top factor in job searches. One positive outcome for team productivity is higher retention and engagement. This means that job searchers, who use their strengths on the job daily, are not only more productive. They are more likely to stay in their positions longer and are healthier overall.
TIGERS® strategies for higher team productivity
Here are a few strategies to improve team productivity
Harness your stress to improve team productivity.
Stress is part of life. Good stress, referred to as Eustress, actually makes you more productive and is very engaging. But dwelling on negatives wrecks havoc on your health, instead, shift your focus and turn your stress into motivation for success says the self-paced training program, Melting Your Stress within 30 Days. For example, when you feel stressed, harness that sense of urgency and take action. However, sometimes it’s easy to become overwhelmed and confused on how to take action. This is where this training program is invaluable. Even though you might not make the best decisions in the beginning, doing something that gets you to a goal is infinitely better than doing nothing. Think in terms of a path to a goal with many stepping stones. One stepping stone eventually leads to another and on path to moving forward. So when you’re feeling stress, use it for your own good.
Facilitate positive team dynamics to improve team productivity.
Industry trends are constantly changing. This means that innovation, problem solving and decision-making are keys to team productivity success. Effective leaders understand how to adapt to this ever-changing work environment. This includes employee expectations to be included in team operation decision and demands, notes Employee Strengths Build Strong Workplace Cultures. Leaders who invest in ongoing leadership training and who view themselves as facilitators of high performance and complex problem-solving and decision-making teams are capable of bringing people together to work toward solutions.
TIGERS® Manager as Facilitator™ training, teaches leaders how to reduce group conflict, forge positive behavior norms and promote good decision-making on the part of all team members. Used by project managers and companies undergoing culture change, this skill training is essential for building and leading successful, high-performing teams.
Know team members’ strengths to improve team productivity.
Team productivity can’t be accomplished if you and your team members don’t know your strengths. Strength identification starts by getting to know team members on an individual basis. There are also good assessments such as Strength Finder that helps you hone in on what people are innately good at. Employees who know their personal strengths and use them on a daily basis are six times more likely to be engaged in their position, which leads to higher productivity and lower turnover rates.
Team productivity Summary.
According to Gallup, doing what you do best on a daily basis not only leads to higher productivity, but to better health as well. Employees who have the opportunity to do what they do best are happier, more productive and healthier.
Some strategies that help employees do what they do best include:
- Stress management. Stress can be a negative, but when harnessed correctly, leaders and team members can utilize their stress to take action and make beneficial changes for long-term success.
- Learn how to facilitate high performance teams and get a handle on your team’s dynamics.
- Knowing your team members.
The bottom line is that employees want to use their strengths on the job. It impacts their job satisfaction and health.
Care to dig deeper into team productivity?
The following resources contribute more to this conversation:
- Want Better Health? Do What You Do Best Every Day
- TIGERS Manager as Facilitator Training™
- Melting your Stress within 30 Days™
- “Doing what I do best”: The association between skill utilization and employee health with healthy behavior as a mediator
- Employee Strengths Build Strong Workplace Cultures
- 8 Ways To Take Your Stress and Turn it into Passion
- How Managers Can Help Employees Avoid Burnout
Copyright TIGERS Success Series, Inc. by Dianne Crampton
About TIGERS® Success Series
TIGERS® Success Series takes the guesswork out of workforce development. TIGERS provides a comprehensive, robust system for improving both your work environment and profitability.
We specialize in developing high performance work cultures. Scaled to grow as your organization and leadership performance grows, our proprietary Team Behavior Profile, Management training workshops, and online micro training packages are based on the six principles we have found to be the right mix to make this happen.
The TIGERS 6 Principles are Trust, Interdependence, Genuineness, Empathy, Risk and Success. Born from our many years of business, psychology, and educational group dynamic research, and subsequent four years of independent evaluation, we instill and sustain behaviors that improve work group performance and talent retention for measurable ROI.
For more information or to request a presentation to your group or association, call 1+877-538-2822. To subscribe to our complimentary newsletter, click here.
