Articles

5 Ways of Improving Efficiency Throughout Your Business

by milton ferrara CEO

Maximizing efficiency should be a priority for any business, but it is easier said than done. Below are 5 quick tips for any manager who wants to enhance efficiency amongst their workforce.

  1. Rethink the Way That You Delegate Tasks

One of the most important skills to have as a business manager is the ability to delegate tasks effectively. There are a number of reasons that effective delegation is important. For example, if you do not delegate the work, then it creates a kind of vacuum and your workers will end up delegating amongst themselves. In some businesses, this might not be a bad situation. However, having workers of equal standing in your business giving and receiving orders from one another can quickly turn bad.

When you delegate tasks amongst your team, there are a variety of factors that you need to consider. First and foremost, you need to identify what skills the task in question requires; you can then decide which employee’s skill set is the best match. If there are other people on your team - team leaders or department heads for example - then you need to work with them to ensure that they are also delegating work appropriately. 

Having an inconsistent approach across your business will lead to trouble down the line. It is important that workers understand why you are delegating work the way you do. You don't want to give anyone the impression that they are less valued than other members of the team.

  1. Encourage Better Communication

You can be sure that at the heart of any efficient business is good communication. A team that can't communicate will never be able to achieve its full potential. As a business leader, you need to set the right example here; workers naturally look to their managers for their cues when it comes to speaking to one another. The attitude and ethos that you display in what you say and how you say it will have a ripple effect throughout your entire business.

Some people are naturally better communicators than others, and it makes sense to put these people in charge of projects and smaller teams. However, it is also important that you don't overlook employees just because they aren't great at communicating. You will often find that some of your best workers are more introverted, and are better suited to supporting leaders who are able to communicate their ideas.

  1. Assign Workers Tasks Suited to Their Skill Set

We have already discussed the importance of effectively delegating work amongst your employees. A vital part of this is going to be matching workers to tasks that suit their skill set. Whenever you are putting together teams of workers to take on larger projects, you should be aiming to get a good mix of different skills into the group.

If you want your workers to be able to perform efficiently, whether as individuals or as part of small teams, you should be aiming to give them the kind of work that is going to appeal to them the most. By playing to their strengths and offering them work that they will not only be adept at completing but will also enjoy doing, you will be harnessing the most effective motivator of all - genuine enjoyment.

We all perform much better when we are faced with a task that we actually like to do. It is when your job no longer feels like a job that you can really begin to hit your maximum potential.

  1. Take a Standardized Approach to Creating Workflows

The way that you encourage your workers to approach their day to day tasks will have a huge impact on their efficiency. If you want your workers to work as efficiently as possible, then you need to equip them with the tools that they will need to do so. Instead of trying to come up with a single workflow approach that will fit every scenario - something which is more or less impossible - try to identify a system that your workers can use in order to construct their own workflows reliably.

It’s like the old adage, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man how to catch fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” If you can give your workers the tools and knowledge that they need to be able to devise a suitable workflow for any task they are given, you won’t have to worry about constantly micromanaging them.

One of the best approaches to take is that of the Kanban system. You can find plenty of examples of a Kanban board online - there are even Kanban board software options from businesses like Kanbanize. As well as providing users with a digital rendition of the Kanban board, Kanbanize’s software also comes with a whole host of collaborative tools that enable you to implement the Kanban system throughout your business with ease. Kanbanize’s software puts the power of Kanban in the hands of your workers and enables some serious efficiency gains. 

  1. Offer Incentives

One of the simplest but most effective techniques for encouraging your workers to work more efficiently is to offer them tangible incentives for doing so. Giving people a clear objective lets them know what they need to aim for, and if they know that you will reward them for a job well done, then they have excellent motivation for putting extra effort in. 

Exactly how you go about rewarding them is entirely up to you, but you should make the rewards you offer meaningful. If you are simply handing out token prizes and trinkets, it won’t seem like you care a great deal. Conversely, if you go all out on rewarding your best workers so there is no doubt in their mind that you are happy with the job they have done, you will find that even relatively minor rewards are excellent motivators.

Alternatively, instead of having a pre-defined set of rewards to offer, you could tailor the incentives you provide to specific individuals and situations. For example, there might be someone on your team who would massively appreciate having a few extra days of paid vacation, and someone else who would prefer that their reward comes in the form of a night out or work meal with colleagues. It doesn’t matter what specific rewards you offer, only that your workers know that they are available if they do good work.

You can’t put a price on efficiency. A more efficient approach means accomplishing more with less and utilizing your workers to the best of their abilities. It’s never too late to start working on your efficiency - you can start making any of the above changes today.



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About milton ferrara Freshman   CEO

13 connections, 0 recommendations, 34 honor points.
Joined APSense since, September 15th, 2017, From Ahmedabad, India.

Created on Feb 1st 2020 08:36. Viewed 387 times.

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