Why your team is not reaching their goals?
Are you satisfied with where your company is right now? Are you selling the number of widgets you hoped to? Or gaining new clients to help increase revenue? Although there are many reasons why employees are not engaged at work, many times there are roadblocks along the way, preventing employees from being successful. People, or better yet, employees create unneeded roadblocks that prevent them from being successful.
Time
Many employees come to work with intentions to be productive and achieve their goals. Then, before they realize it, they have spent an hour gossiping about what happened to Sally or talking about the Walking Dead. In every business, there is a need to have meetings; however, at some organizations, there are meetings after meetings. Then, there are employees who have time management issues. There are numerous reasons that kill time in the work place. The key is to have a clear set of tasks or objectives to ensure you stay on track to accomplish your goals. As a manager, it is important to work with your team to create goals and tasks, helping eliminate things in the workplace that waste time.
Knowledge
For some, the knowledge to do a job comes easy. Perhaps they learned it at college or have worked in the industry for years. For others who may be new to a job, they might not have a good understanding of how the job is to be performed. Not possessing the proper knowledge to do the job is most certainly a barrier or roadblock. Finding the knowledge to do a job is key to successfully reaching goals. As a new employee, setting goals and tasks will not only help one to learn the job, but will also aid in being successful. It is the job of the manager to help employees gain the knowledge needed to do their job well.
Training
For many, not having the proper training automatically sets them up for unproductive work. Some employees, figure out a work-around. Others, just can’t really do the job at all. Work-arounds, can be okay, but taking shortcuts to get the job done, may compromise the end product. It is important for employees to have the training needed to be successful. Managers must provide this training. More training opportunities may become necessary as the company needs to evolve. Employees must also be empowered to ask for or seek out training as well.
Fit
Sometimes the roadblock that people run into is the job or the company culture. When companies interview and select new employees they are not only looking for someone who can do the job, but also looking for someone who “fits”. Will this new in person fit in with the existing team? The same goes for the new employee. Have you ever taken a job, only to realize you did not fit; the company or job was not what you thought it would be? If the fit is not there, then employees will spend time looking for that fit and they will not be as productive. Maybe they have the knowledge to do the job, but will not be 100 percent committed to the success of the organization.
Technology
Technology is great thing, making jobs easier, more productive and connecting the world. Technology has allowed for employees to learn new tasks, track new tasks and to better keep track of time. Technology has also become a roadblock for employees. Technology has allowed for employees to spend time on their phones, on social media or playing games. As a manager, it is important to manage this technology and help finds ways to unblock this barrier.
As one can see, there are many roadblocks that keep employees from being successful in the workplace. In today’s workforce, some of these roadblocks are easy to overcome. Simple adjustments like managing the situation, or giving employees the time needed to learn the job, or helping them learn time management, can result in clear pathways to productive work. Although technology can be a bad thing, it can also be utilized to improve productivity in the workforce.