Do you ever find your workday going into a tailspin out of nowhere? You begin each day thinking about getting every task accomplished but soon become distracted, fixating on low-priority tasks and procrastinating. Now, how can you regain control of your work and time?
Productivity is about so much more than downloading many desktop applications or canceling meetings that could’ve been just an email. Instead, it is more about working smarter and getting more tasks done in less time through determination, proper planning, and work automation.
If an individual works towards increasing their productivity, it can impact every part of the business, especially if it’s a small business. From customer experience to profitability to employee morale to optimized resourcing, you’ll see a significant improvement in everything.
The Results of High Productivity
Given below are the three particular ways it can improve your small business:
- Better Customer Experience: An increase in employee productivity can be seen both internally and externally. Employees will have additional time to spend on customers, either by focusing more on collecting feedback to leverage it on product or service improvement or listening to their queries through customer service.
- Optimized Resourcing: Small businesses can find it extremely difficult to get their employees to work to their full potential. By improving productivity throughout the business, employees will better understand their roles and responsibilities, along with having a better sense of ownership. Moreover, this will also help business owners identify overlapping roles or determine which employees need more work.
- Increased Profitability: When employees give more results in less time or reduce the overall time they require to achieve the same task, small business owners can lower their operational costs and increase outcomes.
Ways to Increase Productivity in Small Businesses
As an entrepreneur with a startup or small business, time is the most valuable resource. You only have limited time every day to accomplish a set of tasks.
While it’s easy to feel exhausted or overwhelmed, you can instead use this energy to accomplish a different task outside of work or take a break so that you can focus on the work at hand.
Below are a few different ways employees can increase productivity in a small business:
1. Focus on Completing One Task at a Time
While you may feel more energetic at that time, multitasking is less efficient compared to focusing on one task at a time. Moreover, individuals who regularly multitask find it very difficult to pay attention, recall information, or move to another task than people who focus on one task at a time. To boost your productivity, eliminate all disturbances and execute one thing at a time to completion.
2. Learn to Say No
Learn to say no to projects, tasks, events, and business conferences that do not align with your end goals. You can’t be a part of everything, so guarantee you have a transparent vision to help you save your resources on things that are the most significant to you.
3. Distribute Tasks to Your Team
Assigning tasks to your team will help both parties to accomplish more. However, it always comes with some risks. To guarantee it doesn’t lead you to do more reworks, be crystal clear and strategic.
Take into account each employee’s strengths and weaknesses while delegating tasks. Moreover, make sure that you communicate with your employees about the expectations and deliverables.
4. Choose a Different Space to Work
At times, all you need is to leave your workspace for inspiration to strike. In case you’re feeling stuck, you need to move and find another place where you feel you can work. For example, take a walk in the park or grab a coffee at your favorite bistro. Go out for some fresh air, and you’ll soon notice a change in your mood.
5. Block Your Calendar
You will never be able to focus on any task if you’re constantly in meetings or conferences. Use your calendar as a way to control when and how much time you want to dedicate to some hard tasks. For example, go at least two days without meetings or block off the first four hours of your calendar to concentrate.
The Bottom Line
In the end, an increase in productivity starts with business owners providing achievable goals for success. It’s crucial to identify what motivates your employees and tames them, from changing the workspace and offering generous vacations to avoiding multitasking and signing up for extracurricular activities.
