Your
company is running smoothly enough, but you know things could be
better. Sometimes, a project gets hung up a few days too long, or
meetings that once felt productive and useful now seem to drag on for
hours. It can feel like wheels spinning in the mud, and it’s hard to get
that traction back.
How
can you fix these kinds of issues? By focusing on improving the
efficiency of your business. I asked members of the Young Entrepreneur
Council for their tips on how they keep their businesses running
efficiently, which in turn helps them be more productive.
1. Automate whatever tasks you can
Whether
it be sending out pay stubs to employees or sending receipts to
vendors, automate whatever you can. “Business automation is not just a
luxury; it is a necessity in today’s competitive environment,” says
Sathvik Tantry of FormSwift. “Automating
monotonous tasks saves your employees time and allows them to do more
productive tasks that require critical thinking or a human touch.”
Sathvik
adds that while it might be pricier to implement automated processes in
the beginning, in the long run it will cut costs, as well as increase
business efficiency.
2. Encourage your employees to chat face-to-face
While
sending a quick email or chat message to a coworker might seem like a
more efficient way of getting an answer, oftentimes it can have the
opposite effect, as the subsequent back-and-forth can take longer than a
quick face-to-face. “Skype, Google Chat and other online communication
tools are always helpful when trying to shoot over a quick message to
your colleagues,” says Miles Jennings of Recruiter.“However,
face-to-face interaction really speeds up the process of solving a
problem, answering a question, or getting something important
clarified.”
How
can you make sure your employees balance the two for optimum
efficiency? “Encouraging employees to openly talk with each other when
they need to will create a steady flow of information,” says Miles.
While
chat and email have their place, by making sure your employees are
comfortable communicating face-to-face, you’ll keep your business moving
efficiently, and a problem that could have been solved in a five-minute
face-to-face chat won’t end as a 20-message-long email thread.
3. Limit interruptions
Staff
meeting at 9am, department meeting at 11am, lunch at noon—if your
employees are having trouble completing tasks efficiently, it might be a
result of constant interruptions. “We try to schedule multiple meetings
on the same day rather than scattering them throughout the week, and we
block out time on our calendars for actively working,” says Alexander
Moore of Boomerang. Blocking
out chunks of time for uninterrupted work may help your employees focus
better, and work more efficiently as a result.
But,
meetings aren’t the only offenders—constant email alerts, chat message
pop ups, and notifications from your in-house project management
software can all serve as distractions that interrupt the flow of work.
“In general, it takes about a minute to resume working effectively after
an interruption,” says Alexander. “For that reason, we use tools like Inbox Pause to reduce email notifications.” There are plenty of tools and apps to keep your work distraction free, which may help you work more efficiently.
4. Hold a daily, 10-minute company meeting
While
meetings are generally considered a necessity, they can carry on to the
point where they eat away at the work day. David Ciccarelli of Voices.comsuggests shorter, more efficient meetings, that cover the basics in 10 minutes flat.
“Each
day, we gather as a company for a 10-minute meeting called the Daily
Huddle,” he says. “The meeting serves as a firehose of information that
keeps everyone in the loop, including a roundup of our key performance
indicators, the celebration of accomplishments, and the identification
of opportunities to improve.”
Not
only is it a good way to keep all employees up to speed on any new
developments within the company, keeping meetings short and sweet forces
a streamlined meeting process, and reduces time wasted. “This process
keeps us running efficiently, as unnecessary meetings are eliminated,”
says David.
5. “Single-task” to get more done
“Our
entire company is currently working on upping our ‘single-tasking’ game
and not moving on to the next project until the current one is
complete,” says Laura Roeder of Meet Edgar.
She
goes on to explain: “‘Single-tasking’ allows you to get more done
quickly by not letting projects rot on the vine when they’re almost
complete. It’s easy to falsely feel productive when you have 10 projects
going on, but nothing actually getting out into the world.”
Focusing
on “single-tasking” until a project is complete helps you actually
execute, rather than chipping away at so many different projects that
nothing ever gets finished.
6. Discourage “Got a minute?” meetings
“One
of the most common and inefficient uses of time and energy are frequent
‘got a minute?’ meetings,” says Kristopher Jones of LSEO.“These meetings are the ones that are unscheduled and typically distract from productivity.”
Why
are these meetings bad for office efficiency? “The reality is that
almost nothing important can be accomplished in one minute, which means
one minute turns into 15 minutes or longer and ends up being a terribly
inefficient management of time,” says Kristopher.
Instead,
try to schedule quick meetings with a designated time span, and stick
to the topic you need to discuss. Even a simple email asking, “Can we
meet for 10 minutes at 3pm to discuss the completion of project X?”
accomplishes the goals of keeping the meeting short, scheduled, and
face-to-face.
7. Stick with the established process
If
you have a project that is already underway, trying to speed things up
can result in cutting corners. “Stick with the process that is
established,” recommends Angela Harless of AcrobatAnt. “If
we try to cut corners to speed up the process, something gets missed,
which must be fixed later and costs time and money. Things go more
smoothly if we stick to the process we started with.”
Does
that mean never change things up? Of course not—that would probably
render most of our earlier suggestions useless! But, if you’re changing a
process, do so deliberately, not just on a whim or because you’re
behind schedule. “Processes can be changed, but they should be changed
intentionally and with communication to the full team after the
potential change has been approved,” says Angela.
8. Use a task management software
“Email isn’t an ideal method of communication or collaboration on teams,” says Dave Nevogt of Hubstaff. “We use task management software like Trello so that our communication and work progress is all in one place.”
A
task management software for designated teams can help everyone work
together more efficiently, track progress, and stay on task. “It saves
everyone the time of having to go back and forth on emails, and it also
lets us track progress more efficiently,” says David. Here at Palo Alto
Software, we agree—and we’re also big fans of Trello, too.
9. Promote a culture of open communication
Just
like in tip number two, encourage your employees to communicate openly.
But, that goes beyond the idea of communicating face-to-face to solve
problems; do your employees feel comfortable voicing their concerns, or
giving feedback on how your company is run?
“The
main reason for our explosive growth is due to the fact that we have a
culture of open communication,” says Raymond Kishk of Interstate Air Conditioning & Heating. “The best way to improve business efficiency is to encourage feedback, ideas, and communication between departments.”
You
can’t be everywhere at once, nor will you see everything. Your
employees may be able to spot an area of your company that could be made
more efficient, or a process that could be streamlined. Make sure they
feel comfortable voicing their opinions, and offering feedback,
especially when it comes to improving efficiency. “By encouraging
coworkers to be part of the efficiency process, it will result in a more
productive and efficient team,” says Raymond.
10. Know when to stop
While
it’s important to smooth out as many kinks as possible to help your
company run more efficiently, you also need to know where to draw the
line. Not every process can—or should—be automated, just like not every
meeting will always end at its scheduled time.
“Efficiency is important—no question,” says Neill Feather of SiteLock, LLC.“But
for startups and entrepreneurs, focusing too much on efficiency can
distract from what is really important for our businesses: growth.”
Neill
has experienced this with his own business: “At SiteLock, we do focus
on efficiency in key areas: hardware utilization, service-level
agreements, etc., but we always remind ourselves that our most important
goal is growth. This includes customers served, products offered, and
brand strength.”
It’s
important to strive for efficiency, but don’t let the goal of running a
more efficient business overshadow other goals. Through trial and
error, and by getting feedback from your employees throughout the
process, you’ll be able to monitor what is working and what isn’t, and
improve your business efficiency—all the while continuing to grow and
strengthen your business.
