How to Use Appraisals to Stop Collaboration Bottlenecks
The most common blockade of productivity has met its match.
Collaboration is a beautiful thing. The idea behind it has led to humans achieving successes greater than the value of their individual parts for centuries, but as we grow more and more connected we are beginning to face a new set of problems that come from casting a wider net. As Harvard Business Review points out, the advancements in technology that allow us to break down silos and work across departments are also having some unintended consequences.
The first step in breaking through the log jam is by taking inventory of what’s demanded of your employees vs. how much of that labour (physical and emotional) that they can provide. You can do this by tracking employee’s opinions via surveys, appraisals, and systems like 360º feedback surveys. By implementing any of these tools and choosing the proper questions to sort through the replies quickly, you’ll be able to monitor your employees strength, weaknesses, and gaps.
The idea is to identify the people most at risk for collaborative overload and triage their workload accordingly. Once that’s done, you can focus on strengthening whichever portion you feel like the employee needs assistance with.
1. Encourage behavioural change
- Allow people to say no or to pause a task to keep them from stressing out over a can’t-miss deadline.
- Take stock of recurring meetings and ask yourself if they’re truly necessary, or just fulfilling optics.
- Encourage people to take chances and risks without worrying what potential stakeholders might say.
2. Leverage technology to make resources more available
- Take advantage of a tool that allows you to source feedback, make goals, and keep record of accomplishments.
- Review the knowledge you gain from the tool quarterly, and make changes on the fly when necessary
3. Consider structural changes
- Listen, maybe your org chart just doesn’t work. It’s likely that the dream you had when you wanted to build your company is vastly different from real life application of it. Don’t be afraid to shake things up!
- Take a look at the knowledge you’ve gleaned from the technological survey you’ve conducted and assess where everyone fits. Would an employee be happier or more productive with a new manager or reporting to a new team? Try some data-driven combinations and see what works.
Collaborative bottlenecks happen when your employees work doesn’t progress until a key member has weighed in. Sometimes, those workers are so overtaxed that they’re not effective anymore. More often than not though, the volume of work they do doesn’t get recognized, and they grow frustrated and leave.
Keep that from happening by implementing a strong performance management solution!
