Learning to be productive and efficient in all that we do is often a challenge for growing companies. The pressure we are all under to grow and yet do so under the tremendous pressure of just moving forward and keeping the business alive sometimes doesn’t allow us to step back and evaluate how we can be more productive and effective in the business we run. Our friends at Time Doctor were kind enough to send us some insights into “taking your small business to the next level of productive”. Their insights and thoughts might stir some new directions for you to take with your business, and help you move that one step closer to a more successful future. Enjoy.
Taking Your Small Business to the Next Level of Productive
Maria Espie Vidal-Vinas, Content Marketing Department
Feel like you are ready to take your business to the next level? It’s every small business owner’s dream to expand, grow, and be one of the industry leaders whether it is in their location or internationally. As they say, opportunity knocks only once. And for small businesses, this holds true. Every opportunity is gold.
On the flip side, some businesses are scared to expand for the simple reason that they might not have enough workforce with them to take on new clients. Adding more people in the team means adding more people to the payroll, which can be draining especially for small businesses and start-ups.
Truth be told, adding hiring more people is not the only solution. In some cases, a small team of highly productive, passionate individuals can do as much as corporation can do. All that it takes is time management.
Time management can drive your team miles ahead your big business competitor. Did you know that a ‘few minutes’ spent on social media can actually take you about 23 to 30 minutes to get back in focus? By eliminating certain activities, automating work that can be automated, and doing things one at a time can boost your team’s productivity and elevate each one’s sense of fulfillment.
So if you’re ready to take your business to the next level of productive, you have to start by determining every task performed by your employees. This can get tricky as some employees would feel intimidated and even scared in becoming completely honest with what tasks they are actually spending their time with.
This is where management-employee relationship plays a valuable role. Don’t keep your company goals a secret from your employees. Inspire them and tell the possibility of expansion and you greatly need their help in doing so. Tell them the reason why you’re asking them to write down everything they are doing, or why they are suddenly required to use a time management software.
Next, check which tasks take more time to accomplish, which ones use more resources to do so, and which ones you can automate. Love it or hate it, automating certain tasks (if possible) can greatly save a lot of time. Those minute tasks you thought are not time consuming can still amount to X time if added up in one month.
Eliminate multi-tasking. Yes, everybody is capable of doing multi-tasking. But doesn’t really add up to one’s productivity. Encourage your team to do one task at a time. Not only does this result to quality work but it is also less stressful for everybody. Doing 5 things at a time is not productive. It’s just adding stress in the environment and nothing gets done really. Quality is still impressive over quantity.
Lastly, always start your week planning. Planning helps your team set goals for the week and recognize their efforts if they’ve achieved it. This makes each one feel more fulfilled.
These are just some of the habits you can start implementing in your team and finally start taking in more clients. Sooner or later, you’ll find your business growing and expanding in no time.
TPG Social Media