Assessing an individuals work on a team is not easy; assessing a teams performance is tenfold harder, but absolutely necessary.
Team dynamics is like a current: you can't tell which direction it would choose to take. It derives from the ways people interact with each other, the environment they work in and the nature of the work itself.
Team dynamics can be good, in which case team members are motivated and able to produce their best results, and bad, in which case unproductive conflicts and poor performance take over.
To prevent employee identity crisis (that is, a feeling of detachment from the rest of the team) managers have to carefully track team dynamics. With so many factors influencing it, it’s impossible to consider them all. But some of them can be measured. Let’s see how exactly team dynamics could be quickly and accurately assessed with a time tracker on several typical examples of team dynamics.
Measuring a teams performance with a time tracker
You need to consider two basic indicators: the teams processes and the teams productivity or results. To effectively measure the first one real-time data is needed. To make the information complex historical data on performance is necessary. A time tracker will provide data on both.
Defining roles and responsibilities
When people are doing jobs they don’t like, it benefits no one on the team. Without a meaningful attitude towards work it’s impossible to reach productivity highpoints. Wrong people in the wrong places mean not just poorer performance, but bad influence over work ethics. Instead of performing tasks which match the skills and inclinations, employees have to maintain appearances and constantly think about what others would think.
In order to have a team of individuals who are passionate about their work you have to make sure they are doing what they love to do. Tracking time will show inconsistencies between employee positions and their skills and abilities, if there are any. It’ll also provide feedback on how they perform basic tasks and key competencies.
Determining realistic entry levels and performance standards
As soon as all plans are based on a teams real capabilities, not imaginary standards, the goals can be achieved much faster. Not only synergy works but everyone's performance is high in the first place.
Real-time data on productivity collected by a time tracker is great for seeing productivity high- and lowpoints. It’s then easier to set the right pace of work – neither too fast, so everyone gets exhausted, nor too slow as seeing an approaching deadline speeds up performance.
Tracking every success
If the teams productivity is not measured how can the efforts be fairly rewarded? It’s important to show everyone on the team that their work won’t go unnoticed. Indeed, overlooking one’s progress is a sure way to kill motivation. While many companies focus on the pure financial side, it’s clear that's not enough. For if a teams progress beyond finances is not measured, it’s hard to figure out what is well and what is not.
If time is tracked, a fair reward system can be established. It will be based on objective information and so everyone knows: if I work well I could have respect and reward for my work.
Cultivating trust and transparency
Establishing clear metrics of a teams work, explaining the rules, distributing the right work to the right people, instantly rewarding for success, sharing feedback on a teams performance with every member – this is what a time tracker could give you. This way equality and transparency would be eagerly supported by employees themselves in the first place.
Let’s sum it all up: to build a workplace culture in which everyone's work would be valued is really difficult. But who said it’s impossible? Tracking team dynamics means you can bring positive change in behavior and therefore, performance because:
“If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.” – Henry Ford
