Last Updated on August 28, 2021 by azamnie
It’s that age old question. What personality traits makes some very productive employees and yet another one average or below average? What should we be looking for, to attract and retain the best in our team?
I’ve done the hard work for you, and have narrowed this down to what I believe are the seven absolutely required elements that very productive employees almost always exhibit.
These seven elements of very productive employees are;
- Listen first
- Understand their limits
- Embrace challenges
- Have laser focus
- Strive for feedback
- Great time management
- Always persistent
Now let’s jump in and look at each of these seven traits in further detail.
Table of Contents
Listen first
The first element of very productive employees is that they always listen first. Now, most people talk too much, and we know that the most effective employees are people who listen first and talk when they have something meaningful to add to the conversation. These employees are effective because they don’t need to hear themselves talk; they consider the facts, ask questions and then share their opinion.
An interesting method to measure a person’s listening skill is to give them opportunities to ask questions. This may seem to make no sense since asking questions is talking, rather than listening, however by asking questions you’re exploring whether they take cues from your answers and ask follow-up questions.
Understand their limits
The second element of very productive employees always understand their limits the best employees are experts in their key areas however they recognize when a project is over their head and they bring in others to help they then generously share credit with others to make sure that in the future others will continue to lend a helping hand and this conveys great self awareness and judgement.
A very productive employee will often decide to bring in other people after the project started to bring in some experts, because they understand their limits.
Embrace challenges
The third element of very productive employees embrace challenges. These great employees will hunt for weaknesses within our organisation both to correct them and to show their skill of embracing challenges and overcoming them.
These productive and very motivated employees will not just sit around and wait for opportunities to come to them. Their eyes often light up when speaking about issues in a product or service or a process and how they dealt with that problem look for initiative creativity
Have laser focus
The fourth element of very productive employees, is that they have a really strong focus. You must understand that business is like a roller coaster ride, and there are many ups and many downs, often all on the very same day. As a result, it’s very important that employees can keep a laser focus during these ups and downs, and stay focussed at what they are doing.
They should never get frustrated when dealing with an annoying customer request. If they do, the business loses their opportunity to create a happier customer, and that’s missing a valuable opportunity.
Most people will demonstrate a great deal of self discipline talking about projects they did not like and what they did to achieve great results, despite their lack of strong interest.
Strive for feedback
The fifth element of very productive employees will always strive for feedback, even criticism if warranted, and will learn from the experience. We all want compliments, however it takes a special personality to accept criticism so well. Yes, we all make mistakes at times. These employees will appreciate constructive criticism rather than not get feedback at all.
They know that without regular feedback, it is difficult for anyone to learn and improve themselves constantly. Below average employees will often become hostile or defensive when receiving constructive criticism, but these very productive employees will accept it as well as accepting compliments or praise.
When you provide candid feedback to your team, either negative or positive, do you find that some of your employees will listen and act or do some of the team instead choose to disagree with you and become defensive about components of the feedback?
Great time management
The sixth element of very productive employees is their fantastic time management. Very productive employees understand the true costs of time, and they also appreciate the opportunity losses that come from wasting time.
This doesn’t mean that they cut corners to get work complete, it is just that they understand that time is the immovable object that affects everyone, and that businesses strive on ensuring that time is used as the valuable resource that it truly is.
Always persistent
The seventh and very final element displayed by nearly all productive employees is that they are always persistent. So it is true that hard work and focus can often wane after a period of time, and their persistence will eventually fade.
However you do sometimes have long projects that can take much longer to complete than expected, and it is good to have employees who are always persistent and reach the KPI set out for them.
We get excited about a project’s end goal, however we’re not always ready for the hard work ahead. These very productive employees will always maintain their persistence, even when the hurdles seem too large.
Summary: Very productive employees
Finding the right employees is a hard job for any recruiter and leader, however when you do come across them, you must value them and keep them engaged in order to retain them as the valuable teammates that they are.
Part of this is understanding and valuing their key strengths and personality traits within your people development programs.
These seven elements that help us to find and reveal those people who are highly productive employees, are;
- Listen first
- Understand their limits
- Embrace challenges
- Have laser focusa
- Strive for feedback
- Great time management
- Always persistent
As a leader, you should do what you can to ensure that you attract and retain the people who exhibit many of the above seven signs, and that you encourage the rest of your employees within your team to adapt and embrace these personality traits as well. Between us all, we can become more productive, efficient and happier as employees in 2020 and beyond.
