As a business owner, maximizing productivity is a key part of day to day life as it aids so many other critical factors like staff and client satisfaction, financial planning and operational planning.

Whilst it may seem like a good idea at the time to focus on all of these things, if you do so you can lose focus on one of the most important areas in any business and that is Quality.

Creating a quality driven team takes time but if you invest the time now you will reap the rewards later on. There are lots of ways to embed Quality in your companies ethos and here are a few tips which I hope you find useful:

• Be aware of how you work
• As a leader, you must develop and be aware of your leadership style and techniques. Are they effective and do they work? Does your team respect your decisions and how well are they accepted by the team you are attempting to lead? Evaluate yourself and be critical about where you can improve, particularly in the areas that will benefit those whom you are a leading.
• Though you may be in-charge, how you work may not be appreciated by those who work for you. You might have good intentions, but make sure you hold yourself accountable and own up to any mistakes and take care to course-correct and modify your approach if necessary to assure that you’re leading from a position of strength and respectability.
• Be your own boss and know who you are as a leader.
• Get to know your team
• You need to hold yourself accountable for your actions to assure you maximize performance and results but, its really important to take the time to get to know your team. Gathering information means learning what defines the strengths and capabilities of your team – the qualities that each member brings to the table, those they leave behind and those that need to be developed.
• As a leader you need to know what buttons to push and when to push them.
• Fully knowing your team means that you have invested the time to understand how they work and how they think and what is needed to motivate them.
• Your team is like Lego, it can be built in many ways.
  
• Define Roles and Responsibilities
• When you successfully complete the above you will be able to clearly define the roles and responsibilities for your team. 
• The responsibilities of each member of your team needs to link to one another. 
• An effective team needs to work as one with a common goal
  
• DO something with Feedback, don't hide it
• Feedback is key to ensuring your team is on track and working effectively.
• You should constantly ask for feedback from clients and when you get it, you need to do something with it not just hide it or log it. Even if the feedback isn't great, its just an opportunity to improve.
• You should give feedback to your team constantly to ensure they know what is expected of them and how they can help the overall team.
• Be careful when advising members of staff how something could be done better but be prepared to listen as your staff are on the front line and as such might have key insights that you can take advantage of and always remember, Feedback can and should flow both ways.
  
• Acknowledge 
• With any feedback comes acknowledgment and if its good feedback this should also be followed with reward. Everyone loves recognition but most are more appreciative of respect. Take the time to give accolades when staff have earned and deserve them. 
• Everyone wants to make a difference and as a leader you need to reassure your team that you are paying attention to their efforts. 
• Work is more meaningful when success is acknowledged.
  
• Celebrate Success!
• Take the time to celebrate success. This is more than just acknowledgment – this is about reflecting on accomplishments and what you have learned throughout the journey.
• Take the time to understand why something was successful and learn from it.

Remember, you are only as good as your team and embedding Quality as a core foundation of your business is the key to success and productivity.