Presumably, anyone leading a team has earned it in some way, and they have convinced enough people to follow them. It is safe to assume that they are highly productive professionals, but they may not have had to think of team or group productivity before. As team leaders, they must move beyond individual performance to focus on collective efficiency and effectiveness.

By examining systems-based approaches, avoiding common pitfalls, and implementing targeted strategies for prioritization and communication, leaders can unlock the full potential of their teams to drive success.

One thing new leaders struggle with is doing less and shifting their focus from their personal productivity to creating environments that are conducive to group productivity. This means they need to think less about what they can do, and more about systems, processes and environments that lead to results.

Some processes are for exception cases, like managing a crisis. Others are to group productivity what habits are to personal productivity. For example, Scrum relies on ceremonies like the daily stand-ups for frequent communication and on sprint cycles to promote adaptability and continuous improvement. 

Who hasn't heard something like "Priority number 1 is this, this and that. Oh, and this other thing."?

A great leader needs to have a vision and communicate it in a way that inspires others. A team leader needs to narrow down what their team can do to contribute to that vision, usually within a smaller range of action.

Juggling five "number 1" priorities is not only logically absurd, but also cripples your chances of reaching any of your goals. This type of leader can always count on the comfort of making progress on many fronts, but struggles to complete a single project.

A way to approach prioritization is to ask: what would you give up if your team was slashed in half or you lose a big part of your funding?

A backlog is a great artifact to accomplish this. In essence, a backlog is a pile or stack of work items that everyone can see. I describe it as a "pile" or "stack" because any work item sits on top of another. Because it is shaped that way, there cannot be two number 1 priorities. There's only one number 1 priority, one number 2, one number 3. This makes it easy to know what to spend time on and what to discard.

As a team leader, you have the power to move your team's attention and effort from one thing to another, so use that power wisely.

You are the gatekeeper protecting your team from unproductive distractions, so you'll need to say no frequently, not because you don't want to work on something, but because you can only do so much that you need to focus on the very activities that add the most value.

Therefore, as a team leader, you'll need to learn to restrain yourself. You might be tempted to ask a team member to quickly sketch something or find some data. In your mind, you're asking for a 5-minute favor that can be accomplished without any impact on planned work. But often, your team member will feel pressured to accommodate. They have an incentive to say yes and spend several days on a request that you didn't give much thought to, potentially delaying more important activities.

Are such distractions ever valid? Yes, of course. It's a matter of cost analysis. How much does that favor help and what is the opportunity cost? A simple trick: before asking someone to do something, simply ask, "How much time would it take to do this?" Then you can decide if it's worth it. Even better, if you proceed with your request, ask them to pause and let you know if they see it is going to take longer.

The team leader can use the backlog to unequivocally signal the current priorities, but it's all for nothing if they and their team doesn't stick to it.

Another way to improve your team's productivity is finding automation opportunities.

Automation is one of those areas that can go from small, rudimentary and basic to the bigger, more technologically advanced robotic process automation projects I see at Sngular. Regardless of the complexity of the challenge or your ambitions, I find the Eisenhower Box to be an incredibly useful tool for smaller endeavors.

The Eisenhower Box is a matrix composed of two axes that help prioritize tasks based on urgency and importance. Tasks that are both urgent and important go in the top outer quadrant (crises, deadlines, pressing problems), important but not urgent tasks go in the top inner quadrant (planning, relationship building, prevention…), urgent but unimportant tasks go in the bottom inner quadrant (interruptions, some meetings, some emails…) and, finally, tasks that are neither important or urgent go in the bottom outer quadrant.

What I like about the Eisenhower Box is how useful it is for identifying automation opportunities. When you use it as a prioritization tool, you are likely to focus on quadrants 1 and 2. But if you focus on quadrants 3 and 4, you'll find the tasks that are more likely to benefit from automation (and even tasks that could be ignored, the ultimate automation trick).

You could write a whole book on collective productivity, but the last strategy I want to mention here is what I summarize as encouraging dissent among soldiers. As a team leader, you want the members in your team to feel free and comfortable expressing dissenting opinions, because they are guaranteed to help you do better. Sometimes, they will even prevent you from making big mistakes.

At the same time, there is a time for debate and there is a time for taking orders like a soldier, and it is up to the team leader to create the environments that clearly indicate team members what moment the team is at any given time.

After a decision has been made, your soldiers will need to stop questioning and focus on rowing in unison. Even then, make sure to create opportunities for dissent —perhaps when new information becomes available, at a weekly review, or at a sprint review.

As a leader, you'll need to foster both collaboration modes. Never retaliate against a team member for disagreeing with you, but don't tolerate them working against you.

Effective team leadership transcends individual achievement to foster collective excellence. By implementing systems-based approaches rather than task-oriented management, leaders create environments where productivity flourishes organically. Courageous prioritization prevents the paralysis of competing "top priorities" and provide clear direction for the team.

Team leaders must recognize their influence as attention directors and gatekeepers, carefully weighing requests against strategic goals to protect team focus. Identifying automation opportunities can dramatically enhance efficiency, and the Eisenhower Box serves as a practical framework for identifying these opportunities.

Perhaps most critically, cultivating an environment where team members feel safe to express dissenting views—while maintaining disciplined execution once decisions are made—creates a balance of innovation and alignment. This dual approach ensures teams benefit from diverse perspectives while maintaining the cohesion necessary for effective implementation.

By embracing these principles, leaders can transform their approach from managing individual productivity to orchestrating team success, ultimately delivering results that extend far beyond what any individual could accomplish alone.

LSS: EconStories “Fight of the century”

Manuel Panizo Vanbossel