How to Focus Your Team’s Productivity

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Create an Idea: Concept Intake Stage (00:52)

When you have an aha moment, you may feel the urge to take action. But before you do, consider moving the idea to an intake phase, where a team manager can evaluate it. 🔎 

Theron, Director of Operations at VENDO, recommends a holding queue approach to vet ideas and ensure the team fully understands them. New concepts require time to clarify the benefits and risks before allocating time, energy, and funds. 💸  

In addition to a holding period, TechOps Executive Ashton suggests taking a step back and approaching ideas from a high-level overview:

💡 Explore the pool of ideas
🏬 Go from department to department to determine where to begin build-outs
🧠 Consider what’s most pressing for each branch, like the finance and support teams (We discuss prioritization more in How to Make Ideas Happen Through Team Feedback down below! 👇)  

Yes, it’s easy to get swept away by a bunch of changes. But Ashton advises incorporating new ideas one step at a time. Wondering how? 

✅ Implement an idea
✅ Assess it in action
✅ Make necessary adjustments
✅ Transition to the next game plan

Michael Webb, President of Sales Performance Consultants, Inc., directs the discussion to employee trust and appreciation through team feedback. While it’s vital to have an intake phase for new ideas, encouraging your employees to share their thoughts is also super important. 💭

🎬 Go to the video at timestamp (02:40) to hear a story about Toyota and how listening to their staff likely contributed to their success at a California plant.   

👉 Bottom line: Consider creating a holding period to develop your team’s ideas before executing them. 

What Is a Business Idea? 

As the guests shared their insights, Layla asked a new question: What is a business idea?

📚 Business term: An idea may include a potential task, a problem that requires investigation, or a solution to a previously known problem.

Does a new idea relate to a problem? If so, it’s also critical to define this term, which Michael describes as an undesirable result from a situation typically revealed through data. 📉

Beyond vetting an idea, it may be worth categorizing it to determine if it’s a priority before moving forward. Keep reading for examples of how to classify new ideas. 

How to Make Ideas Happen through Team Feedback 

Theron explains ways to categorize new ideas in a hierarchy:

• • Critical error
  • Feature update/enhancement
  • Cosmetic updates

📝 Quick note: These labels are examples. Please customize your categories to align with your business.  

Once you classify an idea, identify how many systems it impacts. 

Regarding team feedback on operational matters, Theron uses a scorecard to assess areas that are strong, weak, or fall in between.  

Then, he sees if the idea addresses an issue or an enhancement. The exception to this rule is building trust between team members. Beyond surface-level issues, the root of a problem may relate to a work culture aspect, like respect and trust. 🤝

In addition to categorizing, Michael proposes creating a plan that answers the following questions:

• • What are we trying to accomplish?
  • What change will create improvement?
  • How will we know if things are improving?
    

Study, act, adjust, and execute.

Since Ashton specializes in system-building for her team, she likes to ask if they have any ideas for making their jobs easier. Having a digital space dedicated to future ideas is an excellent way to collect data and make small improvements that will make a difference in the long run. ⚒️

Prioritize and Implement an Idea

When you have an idea for a product or service, making it a reality isn’t as simple as taking action. Many business owners consider scope and prioritization:

❓ How long will this project take? 
❓ What tasks will we need to create and complete?
❓ What’s the budget and costs? 
❓ What resources are required for this product or service to be successful?
❓ How do we know if this is the right time to pursue this?

Starting with a high-level overview may be the best route in some cases. If you don’t know the specifics of a new project, you can rank an idea on a scale of low, medium, complex, and very complex. A rating system can help ensure your team isn’t overwhelmed with complex tasks.

Consider asking your employees if they have the capacity to implement an idea before adding it to their workload. Beyond prioritizing, Theron suggests focusing less on scoping and more on planning for milestones. 

Encourage Continuous Improvement (08:48)

On the topic of continuous improvement, Ashton embraces new ideas, especially those with a proven track record. Still, she recommends that everyone submit their ideas through a change management form.

📚 Business term: Change management includes assessing the gap between your present state and ideal future state. Then, you develop a bridge that will lead your team to the desired outcome. 🌉 

Theron adds that it’s essential to understand the risks involved with a new business idea. Talk through it and see if you can figure out how to mitigate risks. If the idea seems like a strong concept, it may be worth testing. 

For instance, if a team member is pushing to sell a new service, you can ask the following questions to determine the next steps:

• • Have you done the research on this service?
  • What’s the success rate of it?
  • How did it play out for other companies?
  • What was their approach to offering it?
  • How long will it take to complete it?

Generating an idea and executing it requires thoughtful consideration. As you encourage your staff to brainstorm, consider thoroughly investigating all ideas before enabling them. 

How to Focus Your Team’s Productivity 

Creating a general process for managing, categorizing, prioritizing, and implementing new ideas is an excellent start for propelling your business forward. Of course, you’ll want to customize it to support your unique team. Because there’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all process. 

📢 A special shoutout to our guests for sharing their expertise on our call. You can learn more about them here: 👇

Theron, Director of Operations at VENDO: Theron has over 20 years of experience in the digital marketing industry. He specializes in project management, operations leadership, financial stewardship, and delivery management.     

Michael, President of Sales Performance Consultants, Inc.: Michael has a background in enterprise management, factory automation, sales, and marketing. He also has experience with sales training and sales management consulting. 

Ashton, TechOps Executive: Ashton implements software into multi-site locations. She also trains teams on software, workflows, digitizing processes, and more. 

Learned something new from our discussion? Great! This chat was a small glimpse into our Indie Ops Network™, a virtual community of seasoned operators where we offer:

✅ Vetted recommendations: Sharing helpful software, programs, vendors, and contractors
✅ Plug-and-play resource library: Featuring process maps, templates, pre-written SOPs, and much more
✅ Process improvement plans: Action-oriented plans that help you (and your team) make improvements quickly in your business processes 
✅ Virtual coworking and networking: An opportunity to make new connections, gain feedback, receive accountability, and enjoy a few laughs along the way 😅 

Join our Indie Ops Network™ and use our community to empower your team and processes today!