News

Tips to realign your workforce – Michael Osland

Have you ever wondered if your workforce is as effective as it can be?  Although there is a dedicated and inclusive culture within most companies, this doesn’t mean that organizations function perfectly. It’s surprising to see how many factors are working against the efficiency of every business, including polluted water supplies, bad air quality, or diseases passed on by mosquitoes.  

And of course, there are factors within the organization itself that are impacting its success rate. However, one criticism that businesses often face is disorganization leading to poor communication between departments or duplicated work processes. This might be a lack of motivation amongst employees or simply not having enough resources to complete projects successfully. Whether the solution lies with the business owner or workforce realignment, it’s essential not to give up on your company.

Encourage employees to have an open mind when it comes to collaborating with other departments says Michael Osland

This is undoubtedly a challenging process and requires hard work from every department to meet their deadlines.   You should be looking out for employees who refuse to help other teams simply because they have made assumptions about the people involved.   When running initiatives designed to encourage working together, one way of ensuring that employees are inclusive is by hosting meetings where everyone sits down together.  

Establish common goals between all divisions within the business

One way of improving communication between employees without simply encouraging them to have an open mind is by making sure that everyone understands their role within the company.   When employees don’t have a good understanding of what they are supposed to be doing, there’s a greater chance of them becoming sidetracked and spending time working on something irrelevant or simply distracting other members of staff with gossip.  

By establishing clear goals, you can ensure that everyone from the CEO down is working towards the same vision for the company. Over time, this will encourage better collaboration between workers to understand why specific departments are essential rather than just jumping to conclusions based on stereotypes.  For instance, sales teams might not typically work together, but if the marketing spends budget needs to be reduced, everyone has an added incentive to find new methods of selling products or services.

Utilize technology to stay on top of each team member’s workload

Once you have established common goals and everyone is working towards the same vision, it becomes easier for managers to monitor how staff members are responding to their job descriptions.  

With so many resources available today at very affordable prices, there’s no reason why every worker can’t be given a tablet or laptop to keep track of their performance and ensure that they’re staying on task says Michael Osland. Not only will this remove any potential distractions such as internet surfing or checking personal emails but it means that information can be consolidated into one easy-to-read area.    

While some companies might see investing in such devices as too costly overtime, this investment would pay off. Especially if problems begin to occur down the line and team members can access documents they might not have had access to before. Despite any initial reluctance, employees tend to get on board with new technology very quickly. Once you decide that everyone should use a tablet or laptop, it becomes easier to familiarise themselves with the system.

When managers constantly check in with their employees, there’s a good chance that this will cause resentment towards the business as workers feel like they aren’t trusted to get on with what they need to do. With such close monitoring also comes increased scrutiny, which could lead an employer to make judgements based solely on specific behaviour rather than wanting to find out why something has

Christopher Stern

Christopher Stern is a Washington-based reporter. Chris spent many years covering tech policy as a business reporter for renowned publications. He has extensive experience covering Congress, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Federal Trade Commissions. He is a graduate of Middlebury College. Email:[email protected]

Related Articles

Back to top button