3 tactics clever managers use to boost productivity

Network uptime isn’t just about technical know-how. It’s also about managing your people, leveraging your techs’ knowledge and organizing them for a positive effect on your network’s uptime. Here are 3 tactics clever managers use to boost productivity.

HUDDLES

Huddles are quick morning meetings, usually conducted with small teams of up to 30 people and almost always conducted standing up. Led by a manager, the goal of the huddle is motivate the team, promote accountability, and identify little challenges before they become big problems. When done well, huddles boost productivity by removing obstacles. They can also be morale boosters, helping keep your people happy and focused on the job.

You can learn more about huddles here

I.D.S. MEETINGS

I.D.S. stands for identify, describe, solve, which is exactly what happens during these meetings. Typically conducted with a small team, this meeting’s goal is to uncover one or two complex problems and leverage the team’s collective knowledge to solve them.

The meeting can be run by anyone, and consists of a few phases. First, the team identifies problems they are facing, while the facilitator captures them, often on a whiteboard. Each issue is then described with just enough detail that everyone in the room understands it. Finally, the team votes for which issue(s) to work on with the remaining meeting time and starts to collaboratively solve them.

A proper I.D.S. meeting will surface lots of ways to solve a problem. Good facilitators can bring focus to the conversation at the outset, by asking for challenges within a given category (e.g. service delivery or uptime).

BRAINSTORMS

You probably have one or two techs on your team who have frequent ideas for process improvement. It’s likely these are some of your top performers and also the source of a lot of your feedback.

A group brainstorm that includes these seasoned players and some younger team members can be very powerful. You can be the facilitator who brings the focus of the brainstorm to the table. Your top performing tech will likely bring ideas the way they usually do. The less-experienced people get the opportunity to learn from the more experienced team members, and also learn that you value smart thinking. This can become a virtuous cycle, with the newer techs contributing more ideas while motivating other team members to step up.

Here are some great tips to lead a productive brainstorm.

If this has you inspired, learn more about effective team leadership from sources like the Harvard Business Review, or even learn key ideas from management guru, Peter Drucker.