How to Create a More Productive Workplace

Every organization that wants to compete with their industry rivals must take steps to improve their productivity levels. To help you create a more efficient environment, read our effective tips for creating a more productive workplace.

Define Monthly Targets                       

Don’t overwhelm employees or department heads with too many company targets, which can create inconsistent marketing and sales tactics. Instead, sit down to strategically review the company’s three biggest priorities for a month or quarter, while setting targets to correlate with those industry goals. This simple tactic can help declutter a business owner’s mind, so they will focus on achieving their important goals over anything else.

Set Smaller Goals

Achieve one large goal by developing smaller 30, 60 and 90-day goals for each department. Each goal will be connected to your overall objective, which will allow you to assess your progress each week. This will enable departments to enjoy many smaller achievements that will each lead to one big company milestone.

If in Doubt, Cut It Out

Every company will have processes, platforms and employees that are not up to standard. It is a business owner’s responsibility to identify those shortcomings to make the necessary cuts. If something isn’t working or provides little or no value, don’t waste important time and money and say goodbye to the problem slowing down your business.

Hold Shorter Meetings

Lengthy meetings not only eat away at your employees’ time, but they also take money off your bottom-line, too. Review how many hours your employees spend in meetings and how much this time is costing you by the hour. Meetings are an essential aspect of any business, but aim to keep them as short and simple as possible to boost productivity. Only host a meeting when an email update does not suffice.

In fact, one study suggests that holding standing meetings can speed up the process, as they can increase participant attention and performance. So, not only will they speed up the process, but they might be more productive. Give it a try!

Streamline Your Operations

Nothing wastes time like having to monotonously copy/paste information from one platform to another, or having to download, save and then attach an email to a separate site. Don’t allow tedious tasks to ruin your growth and look for ways to transform your team’s productivity levels.

For instance, CloudExtend provides Google integration to synchronize your Gmail, Drive, calendar and contacts with your NetSuite records, facebook chatbot which can eliminate manual efforts and boost business efficiency.

Time Management

Time management issues may prevent staff from meeting deadlines or finishing projects or phone calls at a faster rate. With many employees juggling different tasks, it can be easy to lose focus. Many tend to concentrate on what is urgent over what is important to the business. Develop an internal process that encourages departments to primarily focus on their individual and team objectives.

Plan Your Productivity

Planning for productivity might seem counter-productive, but it isn’t. By planning an itinerary of tasks, you can narrow down the tasks you need to focus on and the time you need to complete each project. Setting aside a small amount of time per day, week or month can actually help you to finish a task at a faster rate, so you can quickly move onto the next goal.

Collaborate with Other Companies

Different companies will have different platforms, customers and services that could benefit your business. Instead of spending time trying to follow in their footsteps, why not collaborate with like-minded businesses?

This will allow you to gain a share of their social media following, broaden your customer base and utilize the platforms not at your company’s disposal. For instance, a healthy food brand could be the perfect addition to a health and fitness club, as the two go hand-in-hand. Reach out to businesses to create a mutually-beneficial partnership that will allow both companies to grow at a faster rate.

Be Slow to Grow

Have you heard the saying “only fools rush in”? Keep that in mind when running your business. Discourage your employees from becoming flustered and avoid creating unrealistic deadlines or forcing them to juggle too many projects. The best way to grow is to take it slow.

Aim to develop a business by ensuring each product, project or service is undertaken with laser-sharp focus. If the workload is too much, hire more employees or cut back on your services, so you can focus on quality over quantity, which will help a business to stand out for all the right reasons in a marketplace.

Develop a Positive Company Culture

Happy employees will go to the ends of the Earth for a business. To make your employees jump out of bed each morning, aim to create a positive workplace that encourages communication, friendships and fun. From a well-designed office space to a relaxing breakout room for them to enjoy, create an office that allows them to relax, destress and embrace their creativity. It will boost office morale and will make other members of staff more approachable if an employee is facing a problem.

Perform Two-Minute Tasks

Write a checklist of all the tasks you need to complete each day or week. If there is a task that can be finished in two minutes or less, complete it as soon as possible so you can tick it off your list. It can be performed in an instant, which will allow you to focus solely on any larger projects that require your undivided attention.

The 90-Minute Rule

According to researchers from Florida State University, you can be more productive when working for 90 minutes or less than 90 minutes-plus. The same study also found top performers also work no more than 4.5 hours per day. If you want to speed up productivity, why not test the theory and encourage staff to take a 15 or 30-minute break every 90 minutes, or enjoy a smaller working day. It could work wonders for your company.