How To Help Your Printing Team Stay Cooperative And Productive?

A struggle of any small business owner is maintaining cooperative, productive employees. There has been a recent surge of articles that outline the methods to improve worker productivity and boost morale in the workplace. 

To maintain such a relationship with your printing team members, here are five tips for you to consider:

Tip #1: Get everyone on board with common goals

Set individual and company goals that encompass everyone’s priorities so that you can foster buy-in from employees and create synergy between departments.

Tip #2: Define company culture

What values should be prioritized in your workplace? What’s the “spirit” of your business? Making sure everyone on the team is on the same page when it comes to what’s most important to your business — and how they can contribute to that — will help you create a culture of cooperation.

Usually, printing companies have a sense of urgency when it comes to budgets, timelines, and customers.

If you have a team of printers that all work together as a cohesive unit with one goal in mind — and that goal is increased efficiency — then your business will run even more efficiently than if you had different departments working on separate projects and deadlines.

Tip #3: Go beyond employee surveys and focus on developing skills (i.e., training)

All too often, employee satisfaction surveys are used to punish employees or deliver bad news. To prevent this, make a point of your surveys to ask more than “how satisfied are you” and use the data to develop action plans. 

Instead of just measuring satisfaction, try to identify how employees can work more effectively in the future. Moreover, focus on developing skills and competencies rather than just focusing on tenure or seniority.

Tip #4: Allow open communication

Encourage an open-door policy by providing an easy way for employees to share their concerns in a productive manner. Moreover, ensure that everyone is comfortable voicing their concerns to you in front of other employees.

As much as possible, create a friendly and respectful environment. 

Tip #5: Be consistent and fair

Keep it simple, be consistent, and be fair. These are vital components in building a great workplace culture, especially in performance management. In addition, by being consistent in communicating with team members, you can build trust, which will help develop an open atmosphere where people can freely share their ideas and strategies. 

It is also very important to be aware of any biases that you may have (i.e., are you tough on new employees?). Being fair will show your dedication to a happy, motivated and productive team.

As the saying goes, “A company is only as good as the people who work there.” Keep these tips in mind and take action on them; you will be surprised at how much more productive your team can be!