Finding the answer to the question of how to improve employee productivity allows the business to thrive. Reasonable task management of human resources allows one to reduce costs, eliminate wastage in multitasking, and guarantee effective use of know-how or skills of the employees.  A human being is not a machine and procrastination is a fact, but when there are financial benefits employees are likely to be more effective and engaged at work. The best project management programs use the Kanban method to improve the employees’ effectiveness. There are lots of examples on the market of the right software to make work easier in this area.

Why is measuring the productivity of employees worth it?

If you haven’t decided to measure the employees’ productivity yet, then you may be unwittingly acting to the detriment of the company. Nevertheless, in-depth analysis allows us to conclude that it is never too late. The easiest way to depict the significance of efficiency control is to use a specific example. Assuming that the enterprise hires ten employees who successfully meet the set targets, increasing the efficiency of each of them by only 20% will result in a noticeable real impact on the company’s operation.

Development of the employees’ skills allows one to either reduce the number of positions (cost reduction) or improve the efficiency of the enterprise. Productivity control in the workplace is crucial as many unnoticeable factors might hurt it. What tricks or tools should be used to monitor efficiency and gradually improve it?

Control the time devoted to the given project.

When measuring productivity, special software is nowadays of great assistance. The market offers typical tools to measure only the worktime or overly complicated project management programs with a time-measuring feature for each task separately.

Among many applications of this type of product, the functionality of assignment of tasks, setting the deadlines for them, and controlling the time devoted to them has to be emphasized. It is a good idea to refer all this to the profit from the given engagement, thus creating the timeframes for the employees. Balancing the carefully developed profitability boundary may be an alarming signal that the efficiency of people engaged in the project is too low.

Don’t be indifferent to the employees’ feedback.

Even in the biggest of enterprises, data regarding productivity at the workplace cannot be treated without context. Behind each digit in the table or chart, there is an employee whose opinion can help significantly improve the overall efficiency. Offer your employees an option to express their opinion, provide feedback, or suggest improvements in several ways.

For specific engagements, comments do very well. Meanwhile, the right places for more general messages are chat and electronic mail. This solution also gives the employees the sense that they are heard and appreciated, making them feel like a part of the company. When you receive the right feedback from your employees, you can easily take action to improve productivity in your company.

Analyze the task progress reports.

The right software will provide you with a view of all the details of the given engagement. You can track the checking of specific items in the checklist in addition to the overall time devoted to the project, the number of engaged people, or the content of comments. This will let you keep your finger on the pulse, giving you a chance to detect work performed at an unusually low pace on time. This could result from fortuitous events, but also procrastination. This type of control is real only if specific reference points in the framework of the given engagement are identified.

Advanced charts that can be generated in several seconds help draw even more in-depth conclusions and get a broader perspective on the subject. Furthermore, the exact measurement of time spent on singular tasks provides many additional options when preparing a quotation for multiple projects for the customer.

Eliminate redundant processes while offering convenient work conditions.

A good way to estimate the employees’ efficiency is to change the work conditions for the better. Not all modifications have to be time-consuming and expensive, though. Assuming that project managers have operated using only spreadsheets, sticky notes, and simple applications so far, offering them a functional tool allowing for unlimited access to comprehensive task management, work time measurement,t or project-round communication, also from mobile devices, should improve their productivity. If such a change does not have a positive effect on the number of generated leads, the source of the issue should be considered.

Maybe it is the low effectiveness of the action of a specific employee. If a preview of all the activities of the employee is available in a single place, improving their productivity will be much easier. It is best, to begin with, the overall team, group, or department efficiency control before moving on to individual activities aimed at specific employees.

What tool should you choose to increase employee productivity?

In all the above aspects, there are tools to support you. A high-quality application allows you to control work time and project progress, generate reports and optimize multitasking processes while concurrently acting as a database. There are many tools on the market, such as Trello, TimeCamp, or Nozbe, that prevent chaos in the enterprise; it’s preferable to choose a product offering a broad range of facilities.

Is there any point in managing tasks, measuring work time, and communicating across three different programs? IC Project offers all these functionalities. It’s a tool having a great impact on work organization in the company, at the same time helping improve the productivity of employees, team, and, in consequence, the company as a whole.

Work organisation – 5 effective tips for every enterprise

Good work organization is essential for any project manager. Without it, projects can quickly become disorganized and chaotic, leading to costly delays and mistakes. One of the most important aspects of work organization is developing a clear project plan. This plan should lay out all of the tasks that need to be completed, as well as the timeline for each task. By having a clear project plan, project managers can ensure that everyone involved in the project knows what needs to be done and when it needs to be done. Additionally, good work organization requires maintaining clear communication channels. This means keeping all project stakeholders up-to-date on progress, changes, and issues. By maintaining open communication, project managers can avoid surprises and ensure that everyone is working towards the same goal.

Work organization and time tracking

If you’re looking to boost your work organization, time tracking can be a helpful tool. Knowing how you’re spending your time can help you identify areas where you may be able to be more efficient. For example, if you see that you’re spending a lot of time on email, you might decide to schedule some time each day to batch your email responses. Alternatively, if you notice that you’re constantly getting interrupted by colleagues, you might try to find ways to create some space for yourself, such as working from home one day a week. By recording track of your time, you can begin to make small changes that can have a big impact on your work organization.

Work organization is a very important process both in private and professional life. Proper work organization allows us to plan everything, we know what we have to do, we have specified the ways to achieve that, and we are more productive. Therefore, every enterprise and management needs to take care of work organization in the business so that the whole enterprise functions better. It’s no simple process. That said, in this article, we offer you a few key steps to take for your enterprise to level up. Which one will you put into practice?

If we want to improve work organization in our enterprise, we have to assume quite a wide perspective. There is usually no one simple and effective method in such contexts. Numerous processes have to engage for the desired effects of our actions to show. It goes without doubt, though, that an organized enterprise is a more productive enterprise. We don’t have to explain what this results in at the end.

Take care of a natural work environment for your team – get special tools that will organize teamwork and guarantee effective information circulation.

This is a process we have to start with. There’s no other way. Each of your employees, and your entire team needs a natural work environment. Of course, the environment may consist of a desk, a computer, a telephone, and all accessories necessary for daily work. This is a foundation that – let’s be honest – is provided by nearly every enterprise. We, however, would like to look at the topic from a different angle. It’s about the place where an employee can find the tasks, projects, and the entire team. If we work on tasks and projects in teams, we often have to contact an employee or exchange information. And from a different perspective – how often do you work on files and documents? Agreements, procedures, regulations, graphic files, graphic change suggestions – they all can happen in one place.

It’s often the case that an enterprise does not have a tool or a shared platform where the team could put all of their duties. This is a very serious mistake that affects work organization. By ensuring this type of environment, we allow every employee to have access to their tasks and the projects run in our enterprise. If need be, they can download the necessary files from a special base or leave a comment to convey information. All this is in one shared tool. The Internet holds numerous productivity and works organization studies and most of them point to an appropriate tool that is vastly responsible for the enhancement of workflow.

 

You are certainly thinking now about where to find such a tool and how to implement it in your enterprise. It isn’t a difficult task, and, of course, we have a proposal for you. One of the programs that will robustly enhance work organization is the IC Project, a tool that is used by a lot of enterprises in various industries. It features a natural environment for your team – you manage projects, delegate tasks, and improve communication and the circulation of files and documents. This is a tool that is very intuitive in daily use, thanks to which your team will simply be willing to work on such a solution. Deployment? You don’t have to worry about anything: the simplicity of the tool will let you deploy it independently or with the full support of the IC Project team. This is a very fast and streamlined process, which will surely let you have better productivity in your team, and so, better organization.

Divide your work into special focus blocks—one or two breaks at work? This is a myth that you have to debunk in your enterprise quickly.

There is a myth very often present in Polish enterprises: that we have one, maybe two breaks from work during the day. Of course, if we want to comply with the provisions of the Labour Code, we should do so. However, if we want to take care of our own and proper rules in our enterprise, there’s no place for such principles from the Labour Code. This kills productivity and, in turn, work organization. Studies show that 90 minutes is the maximum focus time for every individual. So if we have just two breaks daily in our enterprise, it won’t make any sense because our employees will not be able to work beyond their capabilities anyway.

Dividing work into special blocks could be a useful solution. So if 90 minutes is the maximum time of focus, let’s use it in our enterprise. If you allow your team breaks every hour and a half of work, everyone will refresh their minds and be more focused. Doing the entire daily work in one go does not make any sense, and there is nothing better for your mind than a break. Talking, drinking coffee or tea, going out – all this makes your mind come back to productive functioning after an intensive period of work. Is it, therefore, worth devoting 10 minutes to an additional break to be more focused and productive?

Let’s look at this from a different perspective, from the organizational perspective. If we could work out a system of 90-minute focus blocks alternating with 15-minute breaks in your enterprise, it should have an immensely positive effect on work organization. No one interrupts each other, and everyone performs their duties. And when the time comes, everyone goes for a break. Cause it’s much more difficult to implement it in a bigger team, but such conditions will affect work organization very much. This is doubtless a great solution, which you can implement and use right now.

Theme-based work division – focus without moving between different duties.

This is a very important aspect of every enterprise and team. If you manage an entire enterprise, it might be difficult to enforce, but the scrupulous conveyance of such rules to your employees or managers will bring good results. Theme-based work division – as the name implies – refers to the proper adaptation of the theme of duties to the given day or the given period of work. A great solution here would be a top-down division of work into different days of the week – you do one topic on Monday and another one on Tuesday, and you leave development-related topics for Wednesday. Of course, it’s rarely the case that everything works perfectly. That said, you can organize work by themes as much as you can to achieve better organization and productivity.

You are perfectly aware that constantly changing task themes can effectively shake you out of your groove. You simply enter the flow state if you become inspired by the given topic. The task is done and then, suddenly, you are thrown into an entirely different set of activities – you ponder and analyze, and you find yourself not moving anywhere after several dozen minutes. This is what we want to avoid. Proper thematic division of your work will make you and your team better organized. If you can implement this into your enterprise, you will learn the huge benefits of this methodology.

Get to know how much time your professional duties take—with this knowledge, your work organization will climb a level higher.

Working without detailed data, you don’t know what’s going on. If you don’t know how much time you spend on your duties, you work merely on a hunch. As a result, it’s difficult to organize your work. This translates into the individual work of every employee, but particularly of the individual managing the enterprise. You very frequently make appraisals for clients based on the time required to complete the work. This is where we get to the crux. It’s worth tracking the actual time devoted to the given type of duties; using this measurement, you can plan your entire day or an entire project, erring slightly due to variables. If you lack data, you know virtually nothing, and all your duties, and so appraisals, fail to meet the reality.

Here’s an example: you know that your employee is to prepare a proposal and appraisal, create a project schedule, and delegate a team to complete the tasks. Right now, you have no idea how much time it can take. You can say it roughly, but you won’t be sure. Until you know how much time is required, If an employee tracks the actual time required to do the given task once, twice, or thrice, they will know how to plan their day and you will know how to plan work for your team. This is a critical aspect of enterprise work organization: awareness of time spent. Without that data, our vision is obscured by this fog: we strive to get better financial results, but in reality, we lack the basic data and business indicators.

If you are wondering how to do all this effectively, special tools come to the rescue. In the first step, we discussed IC Project as a tool that provides your company and team with a complete work environment, complete with projects, tasks, communication, and file and document circulation. Let’s follow that example. In the IC Project, you can also track the time devoted to the tasks done in it; everything will be interconnected and comprehensive. This is what we strive for in business: better organization of your work. This is a step you need to take care of.

Set goals—use the SMART method

For proper work organization, an enterprise needs a clear and transparent goal-setting model. We are well aware that if we have specific goal parameters and a deadline, we get more productive. If, on the other hand, we lack some parameters, execution extends in time. We want to avoid that. In this case, the goal-setting model will be key for proper work organization. For setting goals, it’s worth using the SMART model – this is quite a trite, yet effective, the concept for goal setting. The SMART acronym consists of five parts that define how to set goals. What will be essential in this case?

• Specific – its understanding should not be problematic; the formulation should be unambiguous and leave no room for loose interpretation, particularly if we’re talking teams and business.

• Measurable: formulated in such a way that the degree of goal achievement could be expressed in numbers, or at least allow clear ‘checkability’ of progress. If we’re planning something, let’s see if we’ve already achieved that.

• Achievable – an overly ambitious goal undermines faith in its achievement and, as a result, motivation to pursue it. This is a very important element of planning goals for the next year – we need to specify feasible goals, not goals the achievement of which is impossible. The more light we see at the end of the tunnel, the more willing we are to go towards it. Let’s set goals gradually; over time, we will surely have the final goal within our grasp.

• Relevant – a goal should be an important step forward and it has to be valuable to the goal-achiever. This is an aspect that will usually bring about growth for our business and our entire team.

• Time-bound: a goal should have a specific deadline. If we rely on New Year’s resolutions, the perfect time horizon will be the entire year, but there’s nothing wrong with dividing the goals into smaller steps.

The SMART method appears in numerous scientific studies or general business articles. Frankly speaking, though, this is a perfect expression of how goals should be set. Quite a lot of experts refer to the SMART method as it is effective, plain, and simple. We also rely on it daily, and it works. Analyzing all of the above conditions, it’s hard to avoid any of them as our goals will simply collapse and we will end up having no results. If you implement the SMART method in setting goals in your enterprise, it will directly translate into an effective work organization.

Become a productivity master in 2022

A great number of task management books, articles, and elaborations have already been written on how to become a productivity master. A human being is not a machine and procrastination is a fact, but when there are financial benefits employees are likely to be more effective and engaged at work. There are important tips on how to act to boost productivity and prioritize work.

1. Establish priorities to become a productivity master

Do you know that feeling when you have no time for anything and you are working all the time but your to-do list is not getting shorter? The basis for high productivity is prioritizing tasks and sticking to them. Divide tasks into important and urgent ones and less important ones from the perspective of a day, week, or month and your superior’s perspective as well. Decide which tasks should be done without delays and which can wait. This will help you focus on the goal.

It is worth mentioning the Pareto principle, stating that 20% of habits are responsible for 80% of results. This has its reflection in your work, too. The trick is to find this 20% of actions that are responsible for most of the results. If you do, you can focus only on them.

2. Start with the most demanding task

This is the one task that you will procrastinate on. You know that it will take you a lot of time and you think, meanwhile, you can catch up with other smaller matters or you just do not like to do it. If you force yourself to do the task, though, its completion will be a prize in and of itself. Leaving it for the end of the day will herald the entire day of awareness that the task is waiting for you, or maybe for one of your co-workers whom you have to delegate it, which is stressful and discouraging.

3. Combine similar tasks

Do you have to make several phone calls? Do it all at once, one after another. You have to go to HR, print something, etc. Go to those places in one go. You will save time by doing comparable tasks in one session.

4. Keep track of your deadlines

If the deadline is not imposed from above, set one yourself. Determine exactly how much time you need and the date when you plan to complete the task. Tasks management without specified deadlines can stall for eternity. Try not to exceed the set deadline, avoid procrastination and draw conclusions if you fail. On the other hand, if the deadline is imposed beforehand, try to set yourself a tighter one. This will give you a safety buffer for any necessary adjustments or explanations of doubts with your contractor.

5. Take frequent breaks

Even if you are in the midst of tasks and you postpone them for later, remember: do take a break. It is important to give your brain some rest. Stop for a moment, walk for a bit, and stretch your body. Working with 5–10 minute breaks every hour will help you work with energy for the entire day. Give your eyes a break as well. It is recommended to close them or look at some distant point for 20 seconds every 20 minutes in front of the screen.

6. Start with the vision

Your mental image of the task execution allows you to plan for all of its stages. The path through which the task is carried out frequently changes; after all, there are many factors over which we have no control. But the very vision of finishing the task will motivate you to work on it. Depending on whether penalties or rewards work better for you, choose visualization with negative or positive results. By creating an image of success in your mind, you somewhat program yourself to achieve it.

7. Stay away from multitasking

One of the things that reduce our productivity is doing multiple tasks at once and quickly switching between them. There is a phenomenon known as the “saw-blade effect”: if you break away from the task you are performing, even for a moment, you will need additional time to work at it efficiently again. When you work the best, you find yourself on top of the cutting disc tooth, and when you break away from the task, you fall between those teeth and some time has to pass before you climb that top again. If you work at a computer, close programs that you do not use anymore and any tabs that distract you. It is better to focus on one thing.

8. Understand and allow yourself to be understood

Most people do not listen with the intention of understanding, but to reply. Before you propose a solution, give advice, or start to act, make sure that you have understood the sense and perspective of the other person. Usually, we focus on being understood. If you write messages or delegate instructions, do not do it laconically. Trying to figure out what is on your mind is a waste of time for others. On the other hand, overly verbose descriptions are also undesirable as well. Strike the balance between these two.

9. Tell others what you want to do

Sharing your goals with others makes you feel more motivated to achieve them. A kind of positive pressure to act shows up. After all, we do not want to come off poorly to others, so we try even harder.

10. Do not avoid difficult topics

Sometimes it is difficult to express your opinion openly. It is avoided for fear of the breakdown of good relationships. It happens that if certain topics are not picked up and certain problems indicated in time, they can accumulate and explode with redoubled strength. Do not linger on the subject.

11. Make use of technology

There are many solutions on the market that help in increasing productivity. Make friends with the ones that benefit you most. Do not waste time working on inefficient equipment. Surround yourself with new solutions, test them, and become a productivity master.

How to prioritize work in 2022?

Anyone who has ever tried to manage a demanding workload knows that prioritize work is essential for task management bests. When there are too many tasks competing for attention, it can be difficult to know where to start. Productivity masters advise to take the time to prioritize work and focus on the most important tasks and get them done more efficiently. One way to prioritize work is to create a list of all the tasks that need to be completed. Then, rank them in order of importance. Another way to prioritize work is to keep a calendar and schedule each task for a specific day and time. By blocking out time for each task, it is possible to ensure that all the most important tasks are completed in a timely manner. By taking the time to prioritize work and using must-have task management tools, it is possible to get more done in less time and achieve better task management bests.

Write down all the tasks to prioritize work

You cannot start to plan the work if it is not clear what is to be done exactly. For this reason, the first step of efficient prioritizing is the creation of a scrupulous “to-do” list. It does not matter whether you use a normal paper sheet and a calendar or the accomplishments of new technologies, i.e. an application, the most important thing is not to keep stuff in your head. Writing down all the tasks does not take longer than a dozen or so minutes, and, thanks to this, it will be easier to arrange the thoughts in order and assess which task should go first.

Assess the importance

Contrary to what you might expect, a deadline is not always the most important criterion when setting priorities. In a pinch, it’s useful to remember that, as productivity masters and time management experts have long known, 20% of our efforts can yield up to 80% of the results. Therefore, it is of key importance to distinguish the tasks that are the most significant. How to do this? Questions like these might be helpful: what will bring the most value to the company? Does the performance of this task get us any nearer to the place we would like to be in a year? Which actions have the largest impact on the achievement of the purpose of the project and the client’s satisfaction? Even the hardest work will not have any appreciable impact if it concerns matters of little importance.

Delegate tasks

If you are the team leader, consider which tasks might be handed over to your employees. The majority of bosses, especially in small companies, tend to try to kill too many birds with one stone. Such an approach usually leads to ineffective work, in an improper sequence, and makes the most important, long-term goals get out of sight. Meanwhile, depending on the type of tasks, even one-third of the checklist points may be successfully carried out by someone else. Delegating is not only a source of motivation for the employees but also a sign that we trust them.

Be flexible

The only permanent thing in life is… change. The same applies to priorities. Breakdown at the customer, new information, change of circumstances, or suffered failure — these are only a handful of situations that may be the cause of changes in the importance hierarchy. This is why it is important to keep the score in mind, regularly verify the priorities, and be ready to modify the priority list. It is also worthwhile to be prepared for a situation when we will be forced to abandon some tasks. It may turn out that something that has been sitting on the checklist for weeks is, in fact, not that urgent or important, and the best solution is to abandon it entirely.

Setting priorities resembles the selection of injured soldiers on the battlefield and dividing them into those who may be saved with immediate aid and those who will not make it. It cannot be done without cold calculation. However, it is useful to know how to prioritize work because the lack of it is the most frequent reason we fail in carrying out our goals.

Multitasking in project management in 2022

Multitasking is when more than one task management is performed simultaneously and at the same time. Some studies show that multitasking has a beneficial effect on the human brain and productivity. If successful then it often increases motivation. There are software solutions that help increase productivity when multitasking.

Multitasking at work

For many of us, multitasking means doing several activities at once. For example, we are talking with a client on the phone while filling in an agreement. We are answering an e-mail while creating a presentation. We are driving a bike while writing a text message. We can summon quite a lot of such more or less abstract examples. However, it happens that two activities performed at once fit together, and there are people who, for example, write a text and listen to music at the same time, and the combination of these two activities affects the quality of the text. A lot of writers and other artists stimulate their brains to act in this way. Nevertheless, a vendor’s attempt to do the same in an enterprise may turn out to be unsuccessful.

Can we, in such a case, speak about multitasking at work at all? After all, recruiters value attention ion diversity in job candidates, and employees are happy that they can listen to music or read a newspaper during touch behavior indeed improves their frame of mind, but it may hugely affect their working speed and quality. According to scientific studies show, for instance, studies conducted at the universities of Stanford and Ohio, multitasking often leads to stressful situations, undermines our motivation, and hurts our frame of mind.

At the same time, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review published an article indicating that some activities performed with the accompaniment of music or other stimuli were more effective. This is the above example of artists who create while music plays in the background. However, one must remember that artistic professions often do not require fast work but work that will eventually be of high quality.

Let’s look at the machines, then. It seems that our computers perform dozens, if not millions, of calculations all at the same time. However, it is not exactly like every process is allocated its section of time, and though we think that a computer performs a lot of tasks simultaneously, the actual secret lies in queuing tasks, switching between them, and providing them with appropriate resources.

10 things at once

When we take a closer look at our tasks and duties, we will see that our multitasking translates to efficiency. Let’s treat every single task as a separate project. Phone calls are one of them; sending e-mails and responding to them is another; preparing an offer or a report is yet another one. We might be surprised by an unexpected talk with a client, which counts as yet another task. And though conducting a few projects at the same time stimulates our brain to make an effort, all this will make it overload. The divisibility of attention diminishes permanently, we are distracted more easily, and the so-called “background noises” deconcentrate us more.

However, every coin has two sides. If we learn how to manage tasks and time appropriately, not only will we complete all the activities, even if we are slightly distracted, but we will also increase our motivation and efficiency more easily. Acting in this mode improves productivity and self-esteem and boosts our competence. It follows that multitasking can be both a positive and negative stimulus at work. It all depends on how we plan out our working day.

A calendar and pen, or perhaps a project manage every

Every tool allowing us to easily manage tasks and determine their order will be useful for us. Running a small enterprise and having a certain list of tasks, we can try to record them on a calendar and everyone every one that has been completed. A lot of people mark the level of importance or difficulty of a given task because this way it is easier to determine which one can be performed at a given time.

For our actions to have sense, we must

• Then, plan the order of tasks and secure the time needed to perform them.
• at end of the day, analyze which tasks were performed and stricken out, which were transferred for the following day, and how many of them require additional work. Establishing priorities will simplify the performance of all of them.
• record comments, ideas, and important information-notebook or calendar is our ally here;
• We work under conditions that are optimal for us. If we cannot focus in an open space, maybe headphones with music will be helpful, or a closed-off conference room;
• Try to complete individual tasks and only then go on to tackle other ones.
• Do not be online and on every beck and call all the time, because this will distract you quickly. Peeking at the laptop screen with a tab on Facebook every minute or tapping on the phone screen effectively affects our productivity;
• For instance, plan that for the next 30 minutes you will check the outstanding mail, make some phone calls, or focus on other tasks. Task groups consist of a lot of little matters to cover, which in and of themselves take a few minutes each, but when we combine them, they will take several dozen minutes. Focusing on them and striking them out on the checklist gives a lot of satisfaction.

Help from ICP

There are many programs for managing tasks on the market. ICP is one of them. What do we gain when we use it? Primarily, we can rewrite all projects to specific time frames; the program itself will remind us that we must complete a given task and start another one on the list. Secondly, tools of this type allow us to share projects with other people, adjust the schedule of our actions for other people, etc. Please remember that software for managing projects often combines a mailbox, a notebook, a meeting calendar, and an address book. Therefore, all the tools that are most important in everyday work are at hand, waiting in one place. For more information on ICP and solutions of this type, contact our specialists.

Let’s not fall into the trap of too many tasks.

As you can see, multitasking can have its positive sides. Attention division and a combination of work and relaxing factors allow the artists to create unique works. However, in everyday office work, we do not always have the option to cut off from the outside world with our headphones. For some people, the lack of such an option will cause them to be even less productive. However, it is not as bad as it sounds because the working manner and productivity depend on the organizational culture as well, which is different in every enterprise. As for project management tools, they are useful regardless of multitasking because they can teach us how to systematize and queue tasks.

Investment in trainings – is it worth it?

Any successful project manager will tell you that investment in training is essential to the success of any project. By ensuring that all team members are up to date on the latest best practices and have the necessary skills to carry out their tasks, you can avoid problems later on down the line. In addition, investment in training can also pay dividends in terms of employee satisfaction and retention. By investing in the development of your team, you are showing that you value their skills and experience. As a result, they are more likely to stick around for the long haul, saving you time and money in the long run. So if you’re looking to get the most out of your next project, don’t forget to invest in training. It might just be the best investment you ever make.

Project training

Business training is a topic that has both its supporters and opponents. It might be caused by the different quality of training available on the market. In business, you can learn from many sources and the knowledge can pertain to many disciplines. But is it worth investing money for hours on end with a coach, mentor, specialist, teacher, or another guru who will help you improve your qualifications and the qualifications of your employees? It seems so, but there are exceptions to the rule.

What do the figures say?

Statistics from different sources show that investing money in employees’ development through training is quite a sensible idea. Thanks to the training, not only are our personnel more experienced, but they also enrich our enterprise with an aspect having an effect on its value, that is to say, knowledge and know-how, which allows us to introduce various, often innovative, solutions in the business. The knowledge our employees possess means a competitive edge in the market.

Let’s take a look at the statistics. Go-Gulf shows in its infographic, which collects data from several sources, that 40% of employees who are not trained regularly leave the company after the first year of work. 72% of employees even consider covering some of the training costs if only the employer invests in their development. 42% of companies want to increase their budget for such training each year. 68% of employees think that training is one of the most important things in the company’s policy, and 35% add that training influences on improving the company’s morale. There are two more important statistics. Companies that often send their employees to training have per employee productivity higher by 37% and income higher by 21% per employee. As you can see, it is worth it.

Properly selected training

Courses come in all shapes and sizes. We can send employees to hard training, that is, training that teaches them specialist knowledge. During such training, the trainee is to learn skills strictly connected with the job, occupation, the newly-created position, etc. Such training is also organized in situations in which it is necessary to change the scope of duties or in the case of promotion. In this type of training, we include, for example, IT training, management training, accounting training, sales training, marketing training, and executive training. Soft training is the other type of teaching which focuses on developing an individual’s skills. This is about, among other things, assertiveness, resistance to stress, teamwork, etc.

The form of teaching can vary as well. Starting with workshops, conferences, seminars, open and closed training, events, and the like. When a training program is being selected, it is important to adjust it to the expectations and needs of the employees. Some forms do not work well when building project teams, and others are useless when we want to teach sellers.

Training benefits

There are five main reasons for which it is worth training yourself and your personnel. These are:

• improved qualifications, which translate into higher effectiveness, which, in turn, is associated with greater profits for our business. Teaching the personnel has a positive effect on the perception of our company not only on the inside but also on the outside. The brand is seen as one that invests in people, cares for its employees, etc. In addition, a trained employee who knows their job knows what tools to use and will need less time to familiarise themselves with the demands of their new position, to perform a task, etc. A well-trained team is more effective, so the company operates better and achieves better results.

• boosted the competitive edge of the company. Thanks to a well-skilled team, the company builds the image of a professional brand that has a specialized and trained team. This is so because the main indicator of the competitive position in the competitive potential, which consists of – apart from material resources – the state of intangible assets of the enterprise, that is, factors connected mainly with the employees’ qualifications. The source of this advantage will be the employee and their experience.

• Higher competence and better internal communication. The teams work more harmoniously and there is less tension in them. This is achieved, for instance, by joint training of superiors and subordinates.

• increased engagement and loyalty of the employees, which at the same time decreases staff turnover, which is in turn associated with reduced costs of recruitment and on-boarding of new employees. The employees in whom we do not invest are less loyal and do not feel the same attachment to the company as those who take part in training courses and other training events.

• boosted morale. If employees know that the management eagerly spends money on training and different types of team-building trips involving learning, they are more satisfied and have greater motivation to work.

Satisfied and experienced employees are our company’s showcase. Competence and knowledge are their weapons, and it is employees who stand on the front line, contacting our clients. If we do not have a trained staff, we will lose to a competitive team that has more knowledge and skills. As you can see, the advantages of investing in development and project training bring very tangible benefits for business.