Want to learn how to run your business more efficiently? These 5 simple business strategies will improve efficiency and help create a more productive company.
1. Limit interruptions
Scheduling multiple meetings in the day can seem to be efficient, but often actually, multiple daily meetings can also mean more distractions. Ideally, certain periods of the day should be blocked for actively working in order to limit interruptions and interfere with creative thinking. But meetings aren’t the only master interrupters. Other distractions like email alerts, messages on chats, in-house software alerts and phone calls can all mess with your workflow and add unnecessary hours on at the end of the day. There are many ways to pause digital interruptions and these can be set to timers. But this mindset also extends to setting boundaries with staff and management that between certain hours you won’t be reachable.
2. Delegate the smaller things
You probably always have that feeling like you could be doing something productive with your extra time. And while that may be true, it may not necessarily be the best way to use your headspace at that given moment. As a business owner, you should be using your time on ‘big thinking’ matters and delegating all the smaller tasks to your team. When you do manage to delegate, you must resist the urge to micro-manage because this will defeat the purpose entirely. Ideally, you should take the time to learn your employees' strengths and weaknesses. That way you can delegate the correct task to the right staff member, and give you some peace of mind. But also it's not just about you and your workflow. By giving your employee more important tasks to do, you are also giving them the opportunity to grow into their role and invest more time and effort into the department. So it’s a win-win situation.
3. Automate workflows and processes
All too often small businesses get bogged down with monotonous, repetitive tasks. Many of these can probably be automated. While you may worry that there will be a large upfront associated expense or that this may threaten jobs, in the long term it builds the business, creates more positions and frees your staff up to focus on more critical activities. One key area that can be automated is digital marketing where you can automatically drip emails, and target and extend visibility. This process requires a once-off setup and then it can run itself.
4. Welcome change
It is essential that you are open to change. Not only in the face of adversity like the pandemic but also in ordinary ways like being challenged by competitors, trends or market shifts. Entrepreneurs need to be able to think on their feet and have a positive attitude to change. This has a trickle-down effect on the company at large and so if your attitude isn’t sound, it will filter down and be felt all the way along the food chain.
5. Promote an open-communication culture
This extends beyond face-to-face communication and rather focuses on the question of whether your staff are willing to openly voice their concerns and ideas to you. This starts between departments by encouraging feedback and offering ideas. You will never be able to be everywhere at once (especially if your business is growing) but your staff are there on the ground and can easily spot opportunities or pitfalls way faster than you can. By encouraging co-workers to be part of the efficiency process, your team will become more productive and more vocal when there is a glitch in the system.
The bottom line
Running a more efficient business relies on a fine balance between outlook and operations. If you can start to implement these 5 tips to improve efficiency, you will gradually begin to see a positive knock-on effect across your entire business.
