We all want our teams to operate at their best, but even the most driven groups face unseen obstacles that keep them from reaching peak performance. Often, it’s not the big, glaring issues that hold teams back; it’s the subtle, everyday inefficiencies we rarely question.
How do you break operational barriers to peak productivity? Here are three key practices we found most impactful in breaking through those barriers:
Identify invisible blockers.
These are the tiny, often-overlooked tasks and processes that quietly sap productivity. Think of routine approvals, repetitive data entry, or processes that pile up because “it’s just how we do things.” Every small delay has a ripple effect. To break free, you need to uncover these bottlenecks—and that requires a ground-up approach. Walk through your team’s day-to-day routines, talk to them about what really slows them down, and eliminate the blockers that don’t add value.
Challenge “the way we’ve always done it”.
There’s comfort in sticking to familiar workflows, but if we’re honest, it’s also where growth goes to die. We’ve seen even the most seasoned teams cling to outdated practices, sometimes without realizing it. Asking “why” isn’t a challenge to authority; it’s about being thoughtful. What if you could achieve the same result faster, or with fewer steps? Make challenging assumptions part of your routine, and you’ll find new efficiencies that drive real results.
Promote cross-team accountability.
Silos are a serious productivity killer. When teams focus only on their individual goals, they lose sight of the bigger picture which can lead to sub-optimal results. Imagine the impact if marketing understood the demands on product development, or if finance saw the direct challenges of customer service. Create channels for communication across functions, not just within them, and make the larger team accountable to shared outcomes. This shifts the mindset from “my role” to “our mission.”
What invisible blockers are holding your team back from reaching its potential?