Hard work is believed to be the backbone of any successful business, and to some extent this is true. However, you don’t have to break you back to have an efficient and successful company. In fact, it is often preferable to work smarter rather than harder to achieve your results. Read on to find out more.
Automate
Automation is one way that you can definitely work smarter rather than harder in business. It’s all about freeing up the time of your employees to focus on what is truly necessary by making things like ordering, customer service, and accounting automatic.
That is they are controlled by erp integrations or software that manages these business process making them quicker, more efficient and less vulnerable to mistakes. Something that means all the essential still gets done but with way less effort.
Simplify
Even if you choose not to automate every process in your business, you can still apply the principle of working smarter not harder by simplifying things. This can work wonders because not all process is devised with maximum efficiency and productivity in mind. In fact, many are born out of an urgent need, and situations often conspire to leave them unevaluated and overly effort intense or lengthy.
So to reap the increased benefits of lower cost, and higher productivity, look at the tasks that your employees do and see where they could be made simpler. It may be regarding things like improving their work processes, training them on better communication, or even redistributing responsibilities for a better balance.
Time management
While computers and the internet are not without their advantages, they have also change the way we work, making everything more instant and causing demands on our time that have not been present before. That is why it’s vital that you deal with time management in a smart way in your business.
That means not expecting employees to answer all email immediately unless they are in critical sales function where time is an issue. Instead, guide them to work on blocking communication times into each day. Something that allows them to freely get on with other tasks and stops all of their attention being sapped with instant communications.
Additionally related to time management, focus is something that is important to deal with a smart way. Remember that expecting a person to concentrate fully through an entire work day is unfeasible and ineffective. So instead encourage short breaks, management techniques like Pomodoro, or even specific times for specific projects, if you have multiple tasks on the go.
Praise or reward
Last, of all, do not forget that smart bosses use the power of praise and reap the benefits of this daily. People like to be told when they have done a good job. It keeps their motivation and morale up and helps them work hard on the next project you give them.
Praise also cost nothing, making it a super smart way of getting productivity up. All without having to spend a fortune on rewards that are additional to people salaries.
