It may surprise you to learn that it’s not uncommon for leaders to struggle with employee productivity. There are any number of reasons for this. For instance, people may be feeling uninspired by their goals. Or they might be dealing with personal issues that are dragging them down at work. Perhaps they’re just stuck in a rut, no longer compelled or motivated to perform as expected. If you’ve ever experienced problems around productivity with those on your team, you know how tough it can be to get the results you expect. What you need is a turnaround in attitude and some upward momentum in morale—which means it’s time for some changes.

Here are three quick ways you can reverse this downward productivity trend. Start using these today to get your people feeling more inspired to perform and feeling better about their jobs overall.

1. Use Daily Huddles To Motivate Your Team
Daily huddles are a fast, easy way to check in with your people, increase focus around goals, measure performance and inspire greater productivity. Every morning, call a 10-minute meeting with your team members. Get everyone to discuss results from the previous day’s goals and establish goals for the current day. Make sure to keep these meetings short so people come to see them as helpful and impactful.

2. Spotlight Small Wins
Sometimes it can take time to hit vital goals. So to keep people focused on success and moving forward with smaller, daily goals, it’s important to recognize the more minor successes. What this does is reinforce ownership of those victories and creates meaning for people’s day-in, day-out work. As highlighted in research referenced in The Harvard Business Review, “Of all the things that can boost emotions, motivation, and perceptions during a workday, the single most important is making progress in meaningful work. And the more frequently people experience that sense of progress, the more likely they are to be creatively productive in the long run.” Whether you commit to spotlighting someone different every day in your morning huddles or discipline yourself to “catch someone doing good” against their goals once a week, make a point to establish and consistently act on this solid leadership habit.

3. Make Work More Fun
Your people are also going to find greater connection and, likely, more meaning in work when it’s enjoyable or has some element of positive surprise to it. True, it can’t be fun and games all the time, but there’s no harm in coming up with contests, recognition programs, team-building exercises, opportunities to celebrate staff, company volunteer or charitable efforts, and other entertaining enjoyable activities that will boost morale, build a more positive culture, nurture relationships, grow employee engagement, and instill a sense of purpose and meaning that goes beyond the need for a paycheck. So go for it! What have you got to lose?

What’s your #1 roadblock to employee productivity?​