How can the 80/20 rule improve team management?

What is the 80/20 rule and how can it improve your team management?

CREDIT: This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared on Business Management Blog

The 80/20 rule states that roughly 80% of outcomes come from 20% of causes and, from a productivity perspective, 20% of time spent working delivers 80% of outcomes or results. 

Productivity management is not about making employees sit tight for eight hours on their seats and monitoring their breaks – it’s about identifying which 20% of activities result in the 80% of results and helping employees achieve periods of deep work throughout the day or week. Once you’ve identified the most value-added tasks for an employee, and the time they take, you can:

• help them make the most out of those couple of hours each day – help them stay focused and ensure they have access to all the tools and resources;
• understand how you can reduce time spent on other supporting and non value adding activities such as creating reports or repetitive tasks – automation, standardised work instructions, etc;
• use the available freed-up time for team-building, skill development, play at work and employee engagement.

The 80/20 rule can help you to create a holistic work environment for your team – a place where they love to work, where they have fun with their colleagues and where they continuously learn to achieve personal and organisational goals.