Four ways you can improve your business’ productivity
Convinced your business could be run more efficiently? Read four ways you can improve your business’ productivity.
Could your business do more? The chances are, the answer to this question is “yes”. In fact, it’s pretty likely that every business could do more. The drive for efficiency – to wring every last drop of potential and productivity from the resources you have – should never end.
Four ways you can improve your business’ productivity
Only by having a proactive attitude to this can you become as productive as possible. Are are four ways you can grab your business by the scruff of the neck and become more productive.
1) Have a thorough review – and do it often
Don’t rest on your laurels and assume that your business is doing things right. Conduct a review of your operations and be prepared to ask ‘why?’. Why do you order from your current suppliers? Why is your marketing budget spent in the current way? Why do you use your software package? Why is your pricing structure set up as it is?
It might seem like you’re being a pain – your team leaders/line managers might think so – but it’s really important. If no-one can justify the way you currently operate then that’s probably quite telling. Drifting along and doing things ‘because that’s the way we’ve always done it’ can really harm productivity.
2) Cut costs to target your spending
Productive businesses don’t waste money. As part of your review you might well pinpoint items of spending that you could cut back. Indeed, if you’re not sure, you might even be able to ask an expert to have a look and engage in a spot of bill negotiation on your behalf.
It’s important that you do something positive with the money that you have saved. Use it to invest in new equipment, boost your marketing activities or hire new staff – choose something that will help you to be able to do more as a business.
3) Use technology where you can
Technology has drastically changed the way we work in recent times. There are now almost 300 billion emails sent every day and computers and smart devices are used in almost every working environment. Yet there are many ways in which you can deploy technology to help to boost productivity.
Using accounting software can – for example – cut paperwork and make it easier to manage your money. HR software can make it much simpler to look after your team and project management software can help to keep on top of your workload and track progress.
But don’t use software for software’s sake – instead find the right program and you can automate some of your process, saving money and freeing up time for your staff to focus on what matters most (and makes you most money).
4) Get the most from your staff
As a business, you can only ever be as productive as the people who work for you. You can have the best equipment, software and processes in the world but if you don’t get the most from the people using these then your efforts will be in vain.
It’s important to try to think about the atmosphere and working environment at your business. Happy workers are, according to one study, 12% more productive. Think about little things you can do around the workplace – music, decoration, free food and drink – and incentives and perks you could offer on top of the salaries you pay in order to boost morale.
It’s also important to look into training for your employees as you will feel the benefit from enhancing the skill set of your employees. Sit down with each member of staff and work out a progression plan, pinpointing relevant training courses.
Bonus tip: Outsource as much as possible
There are a lot of things that you have to consider when you’re trying to improve productivity in your company, and looking to outsource as much as you can is one of the best ways of doing this. There are a lot of things that you have to think about when you are trying to improve how productive the company is, and this is why outsourcing is such an important part of the process.
You need to try to look at how you can outsource in the best possible way and this is something that plays a big role in making your business more successful. There are key areas of the company that you need to outsource to experts, so that you can be safe in the knowledge they’re getting dealt with properly.
For instance, remote IT monitoring is one of the best things that you need to keep in mind when you are trying to improve how your company comes across, as well as how productive it can be. By having experts on hand to ensure any IT issues are dealt with in a faster effective way, this is something that can help your company function at the top level as often as possible.
What other ways can you increase your business’ productivity?
How many of these four ideas can you implement in your business? What measures or reviews can you put in place to start working towards greater productivity? And what other ideas do you have to boost your productivity?
Don’t let the momentum slip; start putting some actions into your to-do list and commit to making positive changes.
Photo by Bethany Newman
