5 ways to improve the efficiency of a small team

1. Explain to everyone the goals and objectives of the team

Talk to each team member personally. Explain to the employee the goals of the company in relation to his specifics. In the case of a small team, you can't just set a goal for everyone at once and expect everyone to guess their role.

The smaller the team, the more important the role of everyone. Try to manage less and cooperate more.

This will give you the opportunity, which large teams are deprived of - not only to voice new tasks, but also to explain to everyone personally where and why these tasks came from, why they need to be tackled. In a personal conversation, you can discuss in detail all the nuances and get the employee to fully understand the work ahead.

2. Give people freedom of action

Unlike large companies, where the position of the employee reflects what he does, in small teams, everyone plays several roles at once. Let your coworkers feel how cool they are, sometimes performing alone the role of an entire department, or even several.

In order for your employees to be able to fully express themselves in this format of work, they need a certain freedom of action. Watch your band people, find out what they do better and what is worse. Discuss in which direction they would like to grow and what new, more challenging tasks they would like to take on.

The ability to seamlessly explore new areas will give your employees the incentive to raise their own bar.

3. Automate the routine and outsource tasks

A small company can make life much easier for itself with the help of various automation services. There are many online systems for working with several social networks from one admin panel, many mailing services, analytics tools. Automate everything you can: this will free up your colleagues' time for more complex tasks that require human participation.

For large one-off tasks where a professional approach is required (for example, design or software development, if this is not your field of activity), it is worth hiring freelancers and third-party companies. They already have experience with this kind of work, and they will ultimately save you both time and money.

4. Face-to-face contact should be regular and meetings short

One of the important advantages of a small team is a close acquaintance with all members of the team. If necessary, you can quickly contact everyone: in person or in the messenger. It also saves time at planning meetings and meetings, since employees do not have to listen for an hour about the work of another department, which does not concern them in any way.

Short meetings allow you to quickly discuss all the most important in an informal setting and hear everyone's opinions and suggestions.

5. Build a corporate culture

When you run a multi-person startup, have limited resources, and don't have many bonuses to offer your employees, it's important to maintain the team's drive to maintain the initial momentum. Here a lot depends on the working conditions, which can motivate by themselves.

The impact of corporate culture on productivity is often underestimated, but the connection is clear.

In the case of a small team, such a culture can be easily formed at low cost, whether it be a reward system, a joint vacation, or simply a focus on the needs of employees.

And the main thing is not to be satisfied with what has already been achieved when you see the first results. The success of a small team depends on continuous progress: develop good practices, get rid of bad ones, and rebuild if necessary. When you can subtly and intelligently implement these management methods, they will help your team work with great dedication even when it is no longer small.