by Luke Bawden

Created on: March 23, 2010   Last Updated: April 13, 2010

Improving productivity is one of the most important goals for any business looking to improve market share. Cultivating a great working relationship with employees builds respect and grows understanding bringing with it a productive happy work-force... Working with a team of people in a harmonious and happy work environment makes great business sense building mutual respect, developing work ethic and enhancing job satisfaction.

Job appraisals are a great way to interact with all members of the team in a forum that's about helping to grow understanding of the varied and complex roles faced by industry today. Analysing roles, ambitions, preferred areas to attain expertise and other avenues to progress improvements. Would they like to up-skill or branch into other areas, generate ideas about better policy and procedure. This helps grow trust and give direction. Feed-back from employees about how they see a boss is very beneficial as all roles grow and improve with critique. Employees also benefit hugely with added education round supervisors roles.

It's a great opportunity to place employees where companies will get the best out of them. Help with training to grow people’s value and their sense of being valued as often employees are company’s main asset. Identify people who relish a challenge and people who are happy plugging away. Best utilise time to match jobs to skill-sets. Get a better appreciation of the work-force and how to maximise efficiency. Understand employee’s needs concerns, goals and considerations. Work on stream-lining and always improving the relationship.

Productivity can be enhanced in many ways the main one being a happy work-force and very often it is the people doing the jobs that best understand process. Encouraging people to be proactive by promoting and rewarding new ideas, cultivates healthy and productive work ethic. With better understanding people start to appreciate the bigger picture and become more engaged, keeping the company healthier. Ideas and suggestion need to be fully considered no matter where the origin. New technologies need to be seen as vehicles that increase market share allowing for expansion. Word of mouth about what a great company you are to work for is the cheapest most valuable advertising out there.   

Looking for improvements should be a daily thing. Value adding to products, improving quality, better branding, money for research and development, new technologies, training, safety and so on. It's good for employee's to feel they are a valuable part of the something so keep them well informed and appreciated. Maybe offer shares, bonuses for production targets met, but most of all take the time to say thank you, ask how their family is going, basically don’t just talk about how much you care: show you do. A creative appreciated and happy team will always benefit the economy.  

Learn more about this author, Luke Bawden.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.