10 Ways to Improve Work Performance While Working in an Office or at Home
Published: | Last Updated:
The workplace has changed over the course of history, but over the last couple of years, workplaces have changed a lot. As remote work becomes more the norm, people find themselves working in brand new environments.
While working from home has been shown to benefit employees and create a healthier work-life balance, it may be a difficult work environment for some. The same goes for working in a traditional office. There are distractions anywhere you work.
The top 10 ways to improve work performance are:
- Remove distractions
- Blockout time
- Set clear goals
- Track your progress
- Ask for feedback
- Take breaks
- Keep your workplace tidy
- Keep learning
- Stay out of office drama
- Keep yourself healthy
In this article, we’ll walk through each of these with more tips and details so you can be a rockstar at work.
Read our article about identifying areas of improvement at work to learn how to be more efficient with your performance improvements.
Why is Work Performance Important?
Your work performance defines how well you perform your duties at work. This includes time to complete tasks, accuracy, communication, and adaptability. Everything about how you work your job contributes to this.
Performing well at our job is important because it contributes to the success of the company you work for. It’s also important because it gives you more opportunities for other jobs and career growth.
How to Improve Your Work Performance
There are so many ways to improve your work performance, and there’s a lot of room for creativity. While embarking on your journey of improving your work performance, keep these things in mind.
1. Ruthlessly Remove Distractions
It’s hard to admit, but watching a movie on your second monitor might be distracting you more than you think it is. On average, US workers lose 1 hour and 18 minutes a day due to distractions. These can come in any form, including self-inflicted distractions.
If you want to improve your work performance, ruthlessly remove any distractions. Doing this may require self-control, but don’t worry, there’s a time and a place for everything.
Distractions like having a movie on, listening to a podcast, listening to music, or playing a four hour YouTube video about The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel, are great outside of deep focus work. However, it’s totally fine to put something on during your breaks.
2. Blockout Time
There is so much that comes up throughout the day:
- Phone calls
- Chat messages
- Emails
- A deadline you forgot about
- Fatigue
All of these things are vying for your attention and are inevitable in most working environments. So how do you get them under control? It’s not going to happen on its own. You need to block out time.
Blocking out time lets you take control of your workday. By doing this you’ll be avoiding the inevitable pull of random tasks and responding to emails by scheduling a time to handle each of those tasks.
Here are some things you should include in your blocked schedule:
- Reading and responding to emails and internal messages
- Building your weekly and daily task list
- Reviewing the tasks you need to finish and how close they are to completing
- Deep working time
- Breaks, including lunch
While making your daily schedule, make sure you communicate any changes to your team. If you have an internal system for tracking current availability, use that to easily let your team know what you’re up to.
3. Set Clear and Tangible Goals
Setting clear and tangible goals will improve your work performance by giving you a clear roadmap for what to do next. Goals like “I want to be the best” or “I want people to like my work” are not tangible.
The best way to set goals is with the S.M.A.R.T. goals method.
- Specific—Keep the goal focused on a specific thing
- Measurable—The goal should have progress indicators
- Achievable—Make the goal something you can complete
- Realistic—What results you’re expecting given your resources
- Time-bound—Set a due date for your goal
Looking at work performance goal examples might help point you in the right direction. Goals like:
- Make three sales this month
- Write 10 articles this week
- Make 20 phone calls this week
- Finish four courses this quarter
Notice that those goals include a number and a due date. These goals also aren’t dependent on other people.
4. Track Your Progress
After your goals have been set, track your progress. If you’ve made a S.M.A.R.T. goal, this will be simple. Look at the number you have on your goal and divvy it up on your timeline so it makes sense.
Let’s say you made a goal to complete three online courses in a month. On what days will you be doing coursework? Are there major events in the month you should account for? What days are the due dates?
Keep a close eye on your progress and adjust your efforts when needed.
5. Ask for Feedback
Your peers, managers, and bosses will know your work well. They should be able to offer feedback about your work. You could ask for feedback by simply asking, “What could I have done better?” or even, “Do you have any feedback?” However, there are more effective ways to get feedback that will actually help you.
It’s fine to open a conversation about feedback by asking a simple question, but here are some thing you should do to ensure you’re getting the best feedback:
- Ask about a specific aspect of your work: Asking someone, “How do you think I’m doing?” without context might be confusing. You should frame your feedback around a specific aspect of your work. You could ask “Do you have any feedback about my work on this project?”
- Be open to criticism: When you ask for feedback there’s a chance you won’t like what you hear. To get the most out of feedback, don’t defend any criticisms levied against your work. Be open to the idea that your work can improve and take it as an opportunity to get better.
- Ask follow-up questions: Don’t let their feedback stop at the first round. Ask follow-up questions to dig deeper into what they think of your work performance. You could ask them to clarify things or ask them for specific action items.
- Listen and take notes: It’s easy to let feedback go into one ear and out the other. Capture this feedback in an effective way. Write things down and use what you get to inform future goals and plans.
There’s always room for improvement and going to your reporting manager to ask for ways you can improve is a surprisingly simple way to find gaps and become a better version of yourself.
6. Take Ample Breaks
Your body and brain aren’t built to be productive for 8 hours straight. Working through your lunch, and keeping your nose to the grinder will not set you up for long-term productive success. Building breaks and time to rest your brain throughout the workday will make you more productive by giving you a chance to refresh.
How you structure your work day may not be up to you, but if you’re able, schedule in time to eat, relax, and maybe go for a quick walk. If used well you’ll feel energized and ready to keep finishing up work.
7. Keep Your Workplace Tidy
Focusing on a task while your desk is cluttered with scraps of papers, notes scribbled all over, or even food sitting out is desperately difficult for most people. A clear workspace leads to a clear mind that is available to focus and get work done.
Another thing to keep tidy is your digital workspace. Keep your emails, tabs, and documents organized properly. You can choose whatever method works best for you but try to keep everything you need in a moment just a few clicks away.
8. Always Be Learning
Your performance at work will only grow the more you learn and grow. Taking time out of your day to keep up to date with industry news and the most recent innovations will keep you on the cutting edge while also motivating you by providing insights and interesting stories about your occupation.
You can go about learning in a few ways. There are so many great books to read that pertain to effective leadership, communication, and workflow. There’s also likely a site that aggregates articles about your industry. Keep up to date by reading these articles and applying what you learned to your work.
9. Beware of Office Drama
Completing great work is hard enough. Adding office politics into the mix will only muddle and make work more difficult. Keeping your conduct professional will keep you away from the inevitability of office gossip and drama. These things will corrode you and your team’s productivity.
If you find yourself getting caught up with workplace drama, try not to get invested and instead stay professional.
10. Keep Yourself Healthy
Feeling sluggish at work is the worst. You’re sitting at your desk wanting to get work done but your brain is foggy and it’s just not working. This is a common experience and one of the best ways to solve it is to take up healthy habits.
Here are some ways you can improve your work performance by staying healthy:
- Work Out: You don’t have to hit the gym every day, but you can start small. Daily walks or short workouts 3 times a day are a great place to start working out.
- Eat Healthy: Consider your eating habits, are there more healthy foods you could be eating? Opting for healthier work snacks like nuts, yogurt, or dried fruit might be a good option for you.
- Keep Your House Peaceful: Going home to a restful and relaxing space will do wonders for your workplace productivity. Try to make a space at home you can go to after work to get some real rest.
If you can’t seem to build healthy habits or find time for rest, you’re not alone. There’s a large percentage of people who report feeling exhausted more days, and a third of Americans report getting less than the recommended amount of sleep.
Improve Your Work Performance With Help From the REDC
Improving your work performance alone can be described as a lonely experience. Finding courses on your own and doing a lot of introspection can only get you so far.
Use every opportunity at your disposal and reach out to the REDC at Yavapai College. The REDC is dedicated to offering career training and upskilling opportunities for businesses and job seekers located in Yavapai County. Anyone can receive the training they need to step into their dream role or get the promotion they’ve been wanting.