High Performing Management

How to Tell Whether Your Team Has Had a Good Day

I’ve been consulting and coaching for 26 years, and one thing I’ve consistently noticed about managers is how much time they spend on administration compared to how little time they dedicate to performance. In fact, the situation seems to be getting worse.

Before diving into the reasons behind this, let me be clear—this is not a rant about home working. Rather, it’s about the short-term demands and expectations placed on our time by workplace norms and structures, which are hindering our chances of having a productive day.

When I conduct business reviews using diagnostic tools, I often find that managers spend less than 20% of their time actively managing to ensure the effective delivery of services or products to customers. More than 50% of their time is frequently consumed by administrative tasks and dealing with system, process, and skills-related issues.

Research from leading consultancy firms, such as McKinsey, consistently shows the same results. In addition, at least 30% of administrative time is spent answering emails—a staggering and largely unproductive use of time.

This issue is exacerbated by the fact that many organisations have yet to master remote working for leaders and managers. As a result, teams are missing out on crucial leadership engagement.

John Rampton, writing for The Entrepreneur, states that face-to-face meetings are 34 times more effective than emails. Even if this figure is overstated by 20%, that still represents a huge difference—so why aren’t we prioritising in-person interactions?

A key part of the problem lies in how we allocate time for specific tasks and our perception of what is urgent versus what can wait. In her book Do Nothing, Celeste Headlee describes how she transitioned from spending hours each day answering emails to dedicating just part of a single day to administration—and the sky didn’t fall in.

 

When clients ask me how they can better engage with their teams to boost productivity, I offer them these practical strategies to get started:

1. Get out where the action is

Spend time with your teams in their work environments. Let them get to know you, and vice versa. This leadership approach, known as ‘Walking the Floor,’ is incredibly powerful. No matter how senior you are, you’re not exempt. Make time each week to visit different parts of your organisation. If your teams work shifts, be sure to show up on a night shift occasionally, so they know they’re not forgotten. Even if you’re in finance or sales, this approach adds huge credibility to your leadership and gives you valuable insight into how things really operate.

2. Ensure objectives are clear and meaningful

There’s nothing more demoralising than objectives that seem meaningless. Every area of the organisation should have clear, understandable goals that make sense to the people responsible for achieving them. If you can’t explain why a particular action is necessary, it’s probably not worth doing.

3. Make success measurable for everyone

This ties back to clarity—if employees can’t easily determine whether they’ve been successful using a simple metric, then it’s likely a waste of time.

4. Implement Visual Management Boards

Find a system that works for your organisation and use it to track progress. Teams should be able to review a clear, sensible metric and compare their progress against planned outcomes. Ideally, this review should take place at the shortest meaningful interval, incorporating trend graphics to illustrate performance changes over time. These boards should be central to team discussions about what’s working well and where improvements are needed.

5. Hold daily check-in meetings

These meetings are crucial for continuous improvement. They should focus on reviewing performance from the previous day or shift and setting goals for the day ahead. If things are off track, issues should be flagged as soon as they arise, and corrective actions taken immediately.

 

By following these five steps, leaders can gain clear visibility into whether their teams have had a good day or a challenging one. It all comes down to visible leadership and a shared focus on meaningful targets.

Making these simple changes can transform your team’s productivity and create a more engaged and motivated workforce. So, what small steps can you take today to move in the right direction?