Posted by on Oct 17, 2017 in Career Insights | 0 questions

Finding ways to increase productivity can be hugely beneficial in business. Yet, it’s something that often gets overlooked. When people start a business, they focus on getting orders, making products and growing their company. They put all of their time and effort into these things and fail to realize that their success is massively dependant on the productivity of them and their team. Being more productive can save you time, ensure things are done correctly and make sure you are continually improving and finding new ways to do things. Here’s a look at some of the easiest ways to increase productivity.

Look at Staffing

Learn How A Rotating Shift Schedule Can Double Your Team’s Productivity, but also take a detailed look at your staffing and try to spot patterns.

If your business is open for longer than 10 hours, you probably need some kind of shift system; you can’t expect your staff to work all day every day after all. But, trying to give everyone days off, making sure they don’t do too many late nights and ensuring they’ve got adequate time to rest between their shifts can be a nightmare. Both for you, trying to please everyone and for your staff trying to juggle ever-changing shifts and still have a work-life balance. A rotating shift pattern could be the answer. Staff get more rest as they settle into a pattern. They know when their day’s off are, can plan their time and they quickly adapt to a routine. All of this can increase productivity dramatically.

Then, within these shifts, track progress. Do some staff work better when teamed with others? Are there any conflicts slowing your team down? If so, you can either confront the issues or place these staff of different rotations.

Updates

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Do you update your phone and personal computer every time it tells you to? Most of us don’t, and the same goes for our computers, equipment, and machinery in the workplace. Failure to update your software can mean your business isn’t entirely secure and can’t work as fast as it should. Update all of your systems regularly and have your machinery serviced to make sure it’s all working at its best.

Save Time

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Time, as they say, is money. If you are wasting time, you’re not making as much money or being as productive as you can. Look at areas within your business where you could save time and be more efficient. Some great ideas include:

- Regular breaks to cut down on chat
- 30 Minute meetings
- Saving to the cloud

Keep Things Bright

No one is at their most productive in a dull and dark environment. To make sure your team stays focused and alert, keep your walls bright, reduce clutter and let in as much fresh air and natural light as possible.

Even if you run a business from home and work alone, it’s a good idea to have a bright and airy office space where you can focus and work without interruption.

Communicate

Communication is an excellent way to increase productivity. A group of employees that don’t receive regular and clear briefings often spend time without focus. Unsure what they are doing, what their deadlines are or how to go about their work. This leaves them trying to organize themselves, and you end up with staff unable to work as a team, pulling against each other and wasting time with unnecessary tasks and conflict.

Take 10 minutes at the start of every day to brief your team. You could do this is a group or one on one. Let them know what they are doing that day, what their deadline is, making sure that you are clear with your expectations of them. Then work with them to plan how their tasks will be completed and how they will get the best results.

Streamline Communications

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A lot of time is wasted going backward and forwards communicating with different people, then going over the same thing again when details are lost or forgotten. Streamline your communications to avoid this. Emails are a great way to communicate more efficiently. They send instantly, can travel all over the world within the blink of an eye and mean that there is always a digital record of communication. They are also significantly easier to share with members of your team via the cloud, enabling you to avoid printing and save money as well as time.

Automation

Digital marketing is a huge part of business today. It’s a great way to grow your business, reach a wider audience and get your name out there. But, it can be time-consuming. To build a strong online presence, you need to be online, chatting with people, sharing content and engaging with your audience, all of the time. Or, at least you need to appear to be online all of the time. You can use scheduling and automation services to send out social media messages, emails, shares and website updates, without needing to do it live all the time. Set up an account, link your services and then spend an hour or two at the start of every week planning and scheduling.

Hire Help

To save even more time you could hire a virtual assistant to take care of your digital marketing and anything else that’s online. They can reply to emails, send updates, arrange meetings and generally look after you.

Take a Break

Sometimes, to save time, you need to take some. Make sure you and your staff always get time off to rest and relax. When we’re tired, we make mistakes and burn-out.

Set a Good Example

If you want your team and those that are involved in your business to be productive and efficient, you need to set a good example. They look to you for guidance, so be the best you can be.

Being more productive can save your business a lot of money, ensure your staff are happy and that your company can grow, thrive and reach its potential. But, there’s no easy fix. Becoming more productive may involve trying all of these tips and finding some solutions of your own until something works for you.