As globalization changes the economic stage of the world, businesses at all levels are affected by a fault. This puts the small business at risk due to unforeseen changes. Thus, it is important that for a business to stay afloat, they maintain productivity and efficiency all through its daily operations. However, this is a daunting herculean task for the management to sustain unless inculcated into the office work ethics and traditions.
As the saying goes, “Success leaves clues”, meaning that looking at predecessor similar companies we can learn a thing or two, adopting best practices used in their business models. These practices are what has kept them self-sufficient and moved them to the top echelon of their various industries. Each of these companies achieving record-breaking levels of productivity for long periods.
Hence, this write-up is about ways to help improve your productivity to better handle the ever-changing field of play in the business arena. Below listed are 10 tips to help boost productivity in your small business.
Be Efficient
Have you thought of how your job environment could better experience cost and time reductions in executing activities? That is what efficiency is all about. Here, from time to time, you ask yourself this question “Is there a better way of doing this?” This forces you to think of more suitable ways to ease the flow of work and achieve better results.
Like the adage more for less, when you’re efficient, driven resource allocation patterns change. You’ll get more results through the use of fewer resources when they’re better applied. To do this, you’ll need to be flexible in your orientation to change without changing your goal in mind.
Thus, workers should have a human resource manager that creates the office workplace that breeds creativity. This gives room for workers to suggest better means of doing things. This is because being hands-on, the workers are better suited to notice such areas that improvements can occur.
Automate
As a small scale business owner, it is important to reduce human labor charges wherever technology can suffice. Introducing certain technology and machinery reduces work lines having repeated tasks or job descriptions. This reduces the number of workers needed there and increases the consistency of quality in work done. This helps to reduce the costs incurred when paying off labor wages and also other labor rights such as retirement plans and benefits. Also, it saves time since machinery does not experience fatigue as humans do.
Save By Outsourcing
Outsourcing is one of the ways of leverage which the entrepreneur uses to improve his yield productivity. It means giving out tasks that are done by yourself to other companies, individuals or groups to perform. As we achieve nothing great alone, this calls for the review of certain jobs though miniature. Check to see whether it is the cost incurred for performing that task is less than the price stipulated for subcontracting it out to another group/company.
For example, assignment help in Canada will base its written works from those outsourced by other Canadian companies or neighboring countries. These companies needing briefs or other literary works that could have been done but as a coping mechanism to cut costs have been outsourced.
Furthermore, through outsourcing your work-schedule is also made lighter, the only challenge to this is management and trust. The group must be known for integrity in work ethics and quality to ensure it doesn’t affect one’s overall performance. With this in mind, when outsourcing the company should be well vetted and analyzed to determine if they’re good enough for the job.
Collaborate
This involves putting in place systems that help to ease communication and encourage people. It is most needed in groups under the same unit or division working together on a similar task. Provision of amenities like videoconferencing, file sharing, contact archiving, general broadband internet database, etc. would go a long way to ease the ability to connect with colleagues, clients, vendors, etc. This improves customer satisfaction as ease of access usability is a well sought after criteria in business when dealing with customers.
It helps to trace and correct errors or points of conflict in production lines or the business model itself. By increased collaboration, in conflict resolution communication is more effective hence it is easier to pinpoint and isolate issues and their causes.
Delegate
Delegation is the new way of a shift in the power play in an office. It means to give authority to a subordinate to oversee and effect changes to a certain degree in certain areas of work. By putting the worker in charge, he or she becomes responsible for that work.
Delegation is unlike micromanagement, where the entrepreneur is the sole decision-maker. Here a certain amount of freedom is accrued to the workers to allow them to use their preferred work methods unless specified. To do this, some level of competence and reliability is required on the part of the worker. Hence it works best when the worker is prepared for delegation.
The delegation also increases the independence of workers on their superiors for supervision. By gaining experience without strict supervision, workers also build trust in their abilities and have increased knowledge and confidence. This further reduces internal bureaucratic systems that lead to complicated administrative procedures that are time-consuming.
Reduce Distractions
Distractions take on multiple forms but all achieve in delaying us accomplishing our set targets. To many entrepreneurs, distractions seem to not having much importance compared to their other challenges being faced by the company. This isn’t the case, as distractions are one of the main reasons for high unproductivity especially in small scale businesses.
Hence as an entrepreneur, it is important to reduce distractions experienced at all levels of the company to see improved productivity.
Listed below are a few examples of office rules to help curb distractions
- Keep meetings as short as possible addressing the issues brought up with an open mind.
- Take on more challenging work as this would allow your company’s general mind-set to remain compliant and active
- Reduce office chatter. Although social bonding is encouraged among colleagues, it is not tolerated during work hours.
- Workers should turn off smartphone notifications and shouldn’t be allowed to use phones during active work hours
Have the Right Tools and Equipment
A lot can be said about a workman just by looking at his tools and equipment. The same can be said about the quality and time taken on a service or products delivered by a company. It is wise to invest in good tools and equipment over time. For instance, if your working process requires paperwork you can check for multifunction printers for businesses which have many benefits that can help to improve the efficiency of your work process. For one, they allow you to print, scan, and copy documents all in one machine. This can be a huge time saver, especially if you often have to make multiple copies of the same document. Additionally, multifunction printers generally have higher printing speeds than desktop printers, meaning you can get your work done more quickly. Multifunction printers often come equipped with additional features like fax and email capabilities, which can further improve your workflow. Whether you run a small business or a large corporation, multifunction printers are a great option for meeting your printing needs. This saves the company future cost incurred due to poor durability or accidents that would have happened.
Also, it helps to speed up the work rate. Workers having better precision and ergonomics relieving them of body pains will ensure the longevity of work. This goes to say the there will be better finishing since there’s a lot more attention to details in the products or services rendered. This leads to increased customer satisfaction, which in turn helps sales and marketing the company’s brand.
Offer Support and Set Realistic Goals
Goals serve as a means to checkmate productivity during a period. For productivity to increase, a small business should be goal-oriented working to meet specifications outlined goals and objectives.
Set specific goals every day for workers stating time frames as deadlines. This helps to keep in my mind the urgency of work to be done and prompts the worker to work. If the worker fails to achieve these daily objectives, an employer should issue a query. Then the worker should be interviewed whether he/she is competent for the job. Also, the goal and objectives should be revised to see if it is realistic and feasible.
Hence, with each difficulty experienced along the way by workers, management should provide support where needed. This support is to clarify, educate, correct and understand the issues arising from the work to be done.
Improve Workforce Conditions
There’s just a nice feel to a serene work environment that naturally brings out the best possible performance in a worker. This stimulates a deeper worker’s connection to their workspace making them feel more relaxed and at home with their office.
One achieves this through the following:
- Keeping the office clean
- Providing sufficient lighting conditions
- Reducing noise pollution to a minimum
- Providing health safety kits and equipment where necessary
Ensure Employees Are Happy
It’s been observed that the best performance is seen in companies having the best human relations with their employees. Happy workers are known to go the extra mile in doing tasks the right way without trying to cut corners. This gives the company a cumulative edge to improve productions and services rendered.
An increased feeling of self-worth in a company helps workers feel appreciated and indebted to the success of the company. One can achieve this through the following:
- Having personal relationships with your workers
- Develop and train them in their field of work
- Management should recognize and reward excellence in performance
- Management should request feedback and encourage them bringing up ideas for presentation to the management.
- Provide medical benefits
- Practice positive reinforcement.
Final Thoughts
Now that you understand these various interwoven dynamics of the things listed above, you’ll find out that the outcome of getting improved productivity is predictable. Hence, you begin to see the pattern to it and make the necessary adjustments needed to achieve the desired end goal