Improving Team efficiency - Avoiding "two sacks"

I love the anecdote about the guy who always carries two sacks so if he's asked for help he can say "I'd love to but I have these 2 sacks". In every company I've worked, I have come across one or more people who fit into this category. It's not malicious, they're not bad people, they just feel more comfortable to be seen to be busy. How do you find out if your teams have extra capacity? This is so crucial to running a good business, but really hard to achieve.

• Do you have visibility of productivity metrics for all of your teams?
• Do you know the cost of scaling activities?
• Do your teams know what's expected of them?
• What incentives do you use to encourage over-achievement?

Measuring productivity is a minefield. You need to ensure your teams are performing for the business, while maintaining their motivation and mitigating their fears. It's hard. The most important benefit of measuring a team's productivity is to clarify for them exactly what is expected. The ideal scenario is to have objective KPIs, but even if you can't define these easily you should be able to define some clear objectives which everyone can understand. Try to score some easy wins with teams by removing inefficient process, but be sensitive to the fact that people are often comfortable with repetitive and familiar tasks. Ensure they see a personal benefit. 
 

Leading Great Teams

Building, managing and motivating teams is a specific skillset. It regularly happens that an over-achieving team member is promoted to a team leader position, but being great in a team does not make you a great leader. 

Even the most un-motivated teams can be turned around by talking and listening to them. Demonstrate you have heard them by taking on their feedback, where possible. Show them you have their backs. It can take time to transform an under-performing team, but these are some of the most rewarding business challenges I've faced in my career.
 

Destructive Team Members

A brilliant team can be destroyed by a destructive force. Never underestimate the impact of a negative, unmotivated team member. Work to resolve these challenges and make hard decisions before it's too late.