Team efficiency isn’t just productivity; it’s a mix of an effective work environment and a healthy team culture that improves the overall team performance. In most cases, workers are not intentionally ineffective. They need a little extra help with improving the way they perform and complete tasks.

As a team leader, you probably spend a lot of time thinking and trying to implement different strategies to improve team efficiency. Your job is to ensure your employees are achieving company goals and objectives; however, employees sometimes need help getting on the right track. Although there isn’t a magic formula on how to attain this, I’ve prepared a list of five ways to improve team efficiency, which you can implement in your work instantly.

1. Set attainable and realistic goals

Project goals should be realistic and attainable. First, you have to make clear what’s the scope of the project you want your team to be working on. Elaborate main objectives and take into consideration the resources available, or in this case, the capacity of your team. In the meantime, don’t forget to keep the goals attainable and how you will assign projects. Finally, make a realistic estimate of the time your employees should dedicate to these tasks by putting a reasonable deadline.

2. Know your team’s strengths and weaknesses

Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses at work. The more you know about your team members, the easier it will be for you to match the right employees with specific tasks. For example, if you have an employee who likes or has the talent in some area, let them express their creativity and pitch new ideas to the company.

3. Communicate effectively and clarify roles and tasks

Team performance may be decreasing if project deadlines are not met on several occasions. The cause for this may be poor communication or a lack of structure, process, and work synchronization.

Enhance productivity by communicating effectively. Having a clear vision of which tasks align with department-wide goals will keep everyone on the same page. Also, it empowers individual team members to make decisions that have a high impact on the big picture.

Meet with your team members to communicate the priorities and expected outcomes for their roles. Describe the high priority tasks you want them to finish first, then help them understand your expectations. Afterwards, make sure to explain the result you are trying to achieve, so everyone is on the same page.

4. Choose the proper tools to improve team efficiency

Integrate technology, and take advantage of the latest tech innovations. By using proper tools, the team can work more efficiently. However, it’s less complicated to implement a few integrated tools, instead of separate tools for each process. 

One example of how you can integrate most of your cloud software in one platform is Saasuma. This all-in-one search tool keeps your team connected and breaks the obstacles between different types of cloud software. It allows the team to view, edit and share their work in one place, no matter what kind of cloud storage they use. 

Saasuma centralizes all teamwork and communication in one platform, which significantly decreases the wasted time on aimless searching. The ultimate goal is to streamline the workflow that will boost productivity and improve team efficiency.

5. Give and receive feedback

When a milestone is reached, provide constructive and meaningful feedback to develop a culture of trust in your team. For example, ask your employees about the challenges they face, how you can help them organize their time more effectively, and whether they need more resources. Don’t hesitate to use questions to simplify the feedback process.

You need to continuously monitor your company’s workflow, observe the attitude and productivity of individual team members. If you pay close attention and notice when one’s attitude and motivation have changed, act proactively by taking steps to address this issue and help them before it grows into a serious problem.

In the end, improving efficiency is a continuous process. It may seem overwhelming at first, but simple tactics and tool can help make everyone on your team more efficient. And the more fluent you and your team become in using these tools, efficiency becomes second nature and a built-in part of any project.