The average employee is only productive for around three hours per day. And that means that in many organizations, employees spend the majority of their time on tasks that aren’t productive and beneficial.

But while some would point to laziness or procrastination as the cause, it’s much more likely that the companies themselves have to take responsibility as well. Employees that don’t have the tools to succeed or the direction about what they should be doing are much less likely to use their time effectively.

Because of that, companies are investing a lot of resources and time into putting their employees in a position to succeed and perform at their peak. If you can get each employee to improve their performance by even 10%, that can provide a huge boost to your company’s output and bottom line.

But how can you empower your team to use their time more effectively? Let’s explore some of the most effective strategies you could consider below.

Provide Your Team with Growth Opportunities

Training is an integral part of helping your team progress and improve. If you don’t provide your employees with opportunities to grow and become better, it’s only a matter of time before they become complacent and fall behind their peers in competing organizations.

That’s why you need to make it a priority to invest in leadership and management courses that are designed to help your team enhance their skills and become better at leading your company to growth and success.

Even though investing in training and courses for your team can be an upfront cost, the long-term benefits of having your employees continually learn new ways to approach problems and management will pay dividends for your business performance for many years to come.

Become a Better Leader

No matter how qualified and effective your team might be, it won’t mean anything if you aren’t a capable and strong leader who can manage challenges and keep people motivated. At the same time, you need to have a clear purpose of what you’re working toward professionally and personally if you’re going to provide helpful advice for your team.

And that’s why savvy leaders not only invest in training to gain new competencies, but also prioritize creating a personal development plan that you can use to improve your self-awareness, have a clearer purpose for the big picture goals, and develop useful habits that you can share with your team.

Only by taking care of your own growth and being accountable to the goals you set out can you lead your team and expect them to achieve company-wide goals together. By setting an example of how to carry yourself as a leader, you will have a much easier time getting people to follow you and listen to your guidance.

And at the same time, the leadership skills and habits you develop will be instrumental in helping you recognize how to approach different situations and guide your employees past any obstacle.

Provide Constructive Feedback

Most managers understand that their role is to oversee employees and provide them with feedback about their work. But unfortunately, many don’t have a clear grasp of how to provide constructive feedback to employees and end up either providing unfocused criticism or missing opportunities to point the team member in the right direction.

To combat this, you should make a point of rethinking how you approach giving employees feedback. Even if someone makes a mistake, you shouldn’t jump to criticism; instead, think about how you could turn the situation into a growth opportunity that will prevent it from repeating in the future.

Mistakes are an unavoidable part of growth for all employees, so the best way to deal with them is to offer timely, constructive, and solution-oriented feedback that the employee can use to become better.

Recognize Excellence

Staying motivated through long and challenging projects can be difficult. Even the most engaged employees can find themselves struggling to keep pushing through the challenges and giving their best effort to achieve the company goals.

So you should make sure to have a process for recognizing hard work and showing that you see the effort that your team puts in.

At the very minimum, you should acknowledge when individuals or teams accomplish a task or reach a milestone. Even an encouraging word or congratulations can go a long way in showing people that their work is appreciated.

If you want to provide a bigger motivation boost, consider attaching rewards to certain milestones, both for individuals and the entire team. This could be a fun activity, tickets to an event, or a financial bonus.

Conclusion

A company’s success largely depends on the people behind it. If your team works as a cohesive unit and can stay motivated through difficult stretches, even the most challenging projects won’t be an issue, and your success will translate into long-term company growth.

But for that to happen, you need to invest not just into your team’s training but also put in the effort to become a better leader yourself.