Boosting Your Team’s Productivity

Are you struggling to get jobs completed under budget?

Do you have low-producing employees?

Or would you like to improve on what’s already working?

3 Simple Steps to Boost Your Team’s Productivity

#1 Set Reasonable Expectations

Understand that nobody is ever going to work as hard or as fast as you do. In all fairness, they don’t reap the rewards nor the benefits that you do. So, they don’t have as much vested nor will they receive as much return. This helps to adjust our expectations to a reasonable employee – not owner’s – production rates and efficiencies.

#2 Set Goals

Because if they aim at nothing, they’ll hit it every time.  😉

For our projects, we would always title them “Smith – Exterior – 80” and they knew 80 was the hourly goal. Or “Jones – Interior – 50”, for example. Then everybody on that project would know the goal. It was clear what they were trying to beat, WHILE providing a great customer experience. (Did you notice I didn’t say good job?) I’ll explain why in another email.

If you set goals for them and they’re still not hitting them, then you talk to them and say something like this:

“I have a problem that I need help with. I’m trying to build a business for us so that we have fulfilling careers and we can all get raises and provide for our families for years on end. Is that what you want?”

Yes.

“Okay. Great. So, in order for us to do that, we have to hit our goals, meaning you have to hit your goals for production time, too. If you don’t, the company doesn’t make any profit and the company won’t grow and you won’t make any more money. Can you help me with this?”

WAIT for their response.

If it’s above the line and they take ownership, great. We can move forward. If not, we need to think about removing them from the team, because it might just be a character issue.

Here’s how to introduce the new goal system:

Anytime I’m trying to change the culture of the team or implement something new, I always start with the influencer.

There’s always an influencer out on the team who’s not the owner that everybody looks up to for “the nod” or which direction we’re going or what we should be doing. It’s just human nature. It’s funny.

Or if you only have a couple of painters, you might meet with them together and say, “Hey, guys. Who wants to get raises? Who wants to make more money? Of course they are all going to be like, “Yeah!”

Okay. So in order to do that, we have to hit goals.

Now first, I wanna apologize for not setting goals if we weren’t.

So I’m going to add the hours goal to every job name. It will kind of be our secret code.

And if we hit most of them for 6 months at a time, we can all get raises. If we don’t, then it’s just not gonna work out because the company has to be profitable to grow and I want this company to grow really bad so we can all make some more money. Sound good? Great!

#3 After Action Review

Have them fill out a quick After Action Review:

It’s just 4 questions:

• What Worked?
• What Didn’t Work?
• What Was Missing?
• What’s Next?

In summary, helping painters who aren’t doing well involves a few simple steps.

First, realize that they might not work as hard as you because they don’t have the same benefits. So, adjust your expectations to what’s fair for them.

Next, set clear goals, like how much work they should do in an hour, to give them something to aim for.

If they still don’t meet those goals, talk to them.

Explain that if they don’t do better, the company won’t make money, and nobody will get raises. Ask if they want to help fix the problem. If they’re on board, great. If not, you might need to think about letting them go.

When you introduce the new goals, start with the most influential team member or talk to everyone together. Explain that hitting these goals means more money for everyone. Also, make sure everyone knows what’s expected of them.

Lastly, after each job, have a quick meeting to talk about what went well, what didn’t, and what needs to change for next time. This way, everyone knows what they can do better next time.

By doing these things, you can help your team do better and Double Your Business.

Speaking of goals, what’s one of your goals?