How to boost the productivity of a small team in a startup - Vikas Goel (DGTG)

New Delhi : Steve Jobs once said, “Great things in business are never done by one person. They are done by a team of people”. Undoubtedly, the success of every startup is determined by the strength of its team. 

In a TED talk, Bill Gross said that, among all the factors that make the startup successful, 32% is the role of the team. It is a more important factor than idea (28%), Business model (24%), and Funding (14%). Though the most important one is the timing (42%). 

In the initial days, when your whole team can feed upon just two pizzas, each member has huge responsibilities. Therefore, the efficiency of each individual is directly proportional to the performance and growth of the organization.  

The performance of the team is one of the biggest problems that early-age startups face. I have also faced the same problem with DGTG in the beginning, but over time I have learned to maximize the efficiency of my team. 

Here are the 5 ways through which I have maximized the efficiency of my own team - 

1. Communication - The power of communication is underrated. It is the best thing for your business or personal life. Regular and clear communication with your team, clients, and partners can do wonders for you.

When you have set the right expectation with your team member through proper communication, the efficiency will automatically increase. In order to have good communication, you can set up daily or weekly calls to track the progress, updates, clear the doubts and work together collaboratively to enhance the performance of the team.    

2. Happy Work Culture - A number of studies have revealed that a happy employee is more efficient. Someone who is self-driven with a strong will to work will always make fewer mistakes. 

It is your duty to create such a positive environment and work culture within your team. They should love to come to the office, meet their colleagues, and love everyday challenges. 

3. Team building activity - In order to create a good working environment and increase team efficiency, two things are important, team bonding and fun at work. You can hit both the targets with a single thing called games. 

Organize indoor, outdoor, or online games to keep your team engaged. These games will not only help the team to have fun but will also build a deeper connection amongst them. A deeper understanding will increase the overall efficiency of the team.  

4. Don’t Micromanage - No one likes follow ups every hour. Everyone needs freedom and a free mind to give the maximum output. It has been observed in most of the early age startups that they are highly indulged in micromanagement but it isn’t good for the performance of your team. 

In order to build a strong foundation, you have to trust your team. Micromanagement makes the team members feel low, ultimately reducing their efficiency.   

5. Anonymous Feedbacks - This one is my favourite. Few years back I started this activity as an experiment. I have received very good feedback. I have worked upon the problems, and points of improvement that I realized through this activity, and it made me a better team player.  

In anonymous feedback, people can freely express their feelings and that helps you to find out your shortenings. The feedback is conducted within the team, each one knows the other really well, so the feedback is very accurate and helpful to improvement. 

Bonus tip - Incentives and rewards always work to increase the motivation in the team. From childhood, we are wireframes to have likings towards incentives and rewards. We automatically increase our efforts and push our comfort zone in order to win the reward. 

It is one of the most famous proverbs that, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” Building the next billion-dollar startup is impossible without working upon your team and its efficiency.