Managers manage people, but staff members are in charge of managing their daily supply of energy, which of course happens to be a finite resource.

One of the main ways managers can help their employees manage their workdays efficiently is to create patterns of behavior customized to an individual’s personality and aptitude.

Our brains are prepped to take advantage of efficiencies through repetitious behaviors. Forming habits allows the mind to take a shortcut. If you’ve ever watched someone learn a repetitive skill such as knitting, which requires the same action over and over again, you’ll see a learning curve that eventually becomes almost second nature through the formation of habitual behavior.

The key is to identify those habitual behaviors among your staff that are productive and in tune with your company’s goals, and then to allow more free reign for individual staff members to capitalize on their innate strengths. Of course, there are other considerations that influence workplace efficiencies.

While complete customization of the workplace to suit each person’s individual needs is impractical, smart managers should be willing to shake up the status quo a bit. Managers should have the flexibility to build on the strengths of their employees, meshing individual personalities with a company’s business plan. Then, it’s truly a marriage made in heaven.