No-one thinks that doing less work can increase productivity. However, that doesn’t mean that having a bigger workload necessarily means that you’re getting more done. In the average office, a lot of workload clutter is created by neglecting to streamline your processes. For anyone who prioritises efficiency, more attention should be paid to just how you can cut out as many steps in your work without losing quality. Here are a few tips how.
Going paperless
Firstly, relying on paper storage requires a lot of physical space being used as the company grows. This space also means that money is being spent on systems for filing and moving everything. Not to mention time going into organising. A paperless system not only saves time and money. It also prevents you from being stuck when you lose track of that important document, too.
Eliminating data entry
If you’re in the business of making sales, a lot of time can be wasted from the sheer amount of data entry between sales. This not only slows productivity within the office for the sake of records. It also takes valuable sales time away from workers who want to make those sales. You can’t get rid of data entry completely, but the right sales automation software can take it off your hands.
Manage your time
Managing time well isn’t about speeding your workers up or being late to meetings. It’s about managing everyone’s use of their time and making sure their valuable minutes and hours are going to the right place. Scheduling software can help. So can project management software. It can help you break and divide projects into tasks that people can comprehend and finish all the sooner.
Delegating
One way to make sure that your own time is used a lot better is to start delegating it. Find the people who are showing potential for growth and a step above the rest and start trusting them with responsibility. The training can be a tremendous benefit to them, as can the trust you have put in them. It can also allow you time for bigger picture work and making links through networking and other means.
Setting SMART goals
One way to make sure you’re not running behind in your work and ever missing your goals is to rethink your goals themselves. Use the SMART standards to do this. Measure that your goals are: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time based. Apply this scale to everything you do and make sure you’re not placing unrealistic burdens on your staff. Refitting your business model or hiring more staff can suddenly make the difference once you have the resources to meet your goals.
Efficiency is ever the x-factor that we’re looking for in business. Sometimes it can be achieved by removing the physical clutter from our offices. Sometimes it’s about finding new tools to manage our work or even do some of it for us. But a lot of the time, it’s about realising the resources we have and making best use of them.
