3 Productivity Tips Your Association Can Use to Tackle Tough Tasks

Healthy workplace culture is great, but too much fun could be getting in the way of how much your association could be achieving. While it may be ideal to think everyone in your association’s office is doing their best to work productively all the time, sadly this isn’t the case in most situations. In recent studies done by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, all signs have pointed to a steady decrease in workplace productivity across the board- which yes, includes your organization. You may feel like you really have a grip on your association’s work team, but productivity may actually be slipping by without you noticing. But don’t worry, there are ways to rally your team that can work for any organization’s staff. Marrying company culture and productivity is easy with a few “fine tuning” tips.

So, keep reading on for 3 productivity tips your association can use to tackle lack of motivation in the workplace.

Engagement: It’s for more than just members

As an association, you’re already well versed in engagement. You engage members every single day, getting them to interact with your organization, content, and whatever else you find relevant. So, why not transfer those fundamental skills over to your staff?

‍According to the Workplace Research Foundation, highly engaged employees are much more likely to have a productivity rate of 38%, which is well above the average rate. That’s right, making sure all of your staff feels really in tune with the work their doing and the mission of your association is vital if you want to keep them on task. So, how do you transmute the skills you have about member engagement into staff engagement?

‍Well, you can start by learning more about what staff needs to feel engaged. How do they feel best engaged with their work? Is it through weekly catch up meetings, a workplace chatroom, or a daily update email? Communication can really help the engagement process along as we know. You can also create interesting and dynamic updates to send out to members. Remember, visually appealing information goes over better than dry emails, so don’t be afraid to have fun with staff updates! Putting a focus on staff engagement will naturally boost productivity without much extra effort at all.

Monitor internet use

The internet: It can do a lot of positive work for your association. However, it could also be the bane of your productivity’s existence if not properly monitored. While staff may try their best to stay on task while browsing the internet for answers, it can be hard not to stray away into other websites that don’t provide much work productivity at all. In fact, did you know that 65% of employees admit to using the Internet for non-work related activities? This is why setting up clear internet boundaries within your association’s office is key. Having these restrictions in place can mitigate any wandering from happening before staff even gets the urge to do so.

So, how is this best done? Well, your association can use password protected options on an internet browser of your choice and enter in website URLs that you want staff to stay away from. If you’d like to know the source of your lack of productivity, consider checking out the sites that staff visit on their browser history. Or, to play it safe, consider blocking popular entertainment sites altogether. Chron gives an amazing explanation of how to better do this for any organization not in the know.

Prioritize tasks on your staff calendar

Want to make sure the important tasks get completed first and foremost? Make this message loud and clear to staff by highlighting these tasks on your association’s shared calendar. While you most likely mention the important projects and activities you have coming up that need focus during your weekly meetings and emails, sometimes staff really need the message driven home to get productivity flowing.

By creating a calendar that goes based off of priority rather than date the task was created, this can take care of things that are more pressing than others. A priority-centric calendar can also keep you on track for managing team collaboration as well. You can start your day by checking in on those tasks that show up first on your calendar and make sure they get addressed as soon as possible. This is great for the busy association professional that only has a short amount of time in the day to check in with staff on projects.

Tackle the needs your association has first and worry less! Rearranging the calendar tool of your association’s choice can have more of an impact on priority than imagined, so give it a shot! Don’t let harrowing productivity statistics get in the way of your association’s bright future. Drive up staff productivity using our tips and you’ll be on your way to a better workplace culture and more task completion.