Businesses and global economies suffered a significant hit from the pandemic, but the chaos gradually settled as businesses set on the road to recovery. Recent figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) indicate that over 900,000 small businesses in the UK are at risk of failure. For a business owner, these numbers may be of major concern to you. However, here are five tips to improve your business efficiency while improving productivity.
1. Brief daily meetings
Holding short daily meetings is vital to improving business efficiency. It provides a platform to communicate and update your team on the most recent goals while gathering feedback on any extra support, time or issues they encounter in getting jobs completed. While face to face communication provides the most effective way to do this, it can be challenging, especially when most businesses are moving to adopt remote working. Fortunately, various platforms enable you to video chat even with your remote working teams.
2. Provide your team with the right tools
You may be surprised at the number of teams not providing their staff with the appropriate tools and skills to get the job done. Whether it’s new training for your staff or a management software you require, the one-time payment or annual subscription cost may seem expensive, but these tools can get jobs accurately and efficiently completed. Additionally, ensuring proper maintenance culture is key to prolonging your devices’ lifespan over a long period.
For instance, if you’re a dentist, your equipment could be slowing you down if it’s not functioning correctly. This is why it’s essential to practice regular servicing to ensure your equipment is running smoothly to avoid the cost of having to make a new purchase.
3. Avoid multitasking to get more done
While multitasking is viewed as a vital skill in modern business, it can sometimes be counterproductive. It’s common to see workers leave their jobs midway through to start another in a bid to get more done simultaneously. However, focusing on a single task permits you to get more done than leaving projects half or nearly completed. You can easily fall for a false impression of doing so much when you have, let’s say, ten uncompleted jobs pending. However, nothing gets done that way.
Single-tasking until the job is wholly executed helps you do more instead of chipping away several jobs which never gets completed.
4. Build trust
Building trust in the work environment contributes to fostering stronger bonds between colleagues and working teams. Trusting individuals to get jobs done without unnecessary interference creates an atmosphere where everyone feels valued and trusted to deliver the best work. Consequently, if you’re straightforward with your team, they’ll likely return the favour and offer valued knowledge on jobs, products and services.
As essential as it is to strive for business efficiency, it shouldn’t take precedence over other business goals. Ensuring creativity in taking particular measured risks while acknowledging employee feedback will help you ascertain what’s working and what isn’t. This way, you can enhance your efficiency alongside developing and strengthening your business.