In today’s on-demand, must-have-it-now world, efficiency is crucial for nearly every business. An efficient business wastes fewer resources and thus is more cost-effective. Employees are able to maximize their time and efforts, focusing on what they most need to do. In turn, employees are more energized and motivated to complete their tasks when there isn’t any friction.
There are numerous other benefits to being an efficient, well-oiled machine and getting business done faster. It can create demand in the marketplace, increase your profits, and knock your competitors off their game. Below are four ways to get business done faster, smarter, and more systematically.
1. Use Appropriate Tools
Tools are your friends. They are a way to streamline and speed up your day-to-day tasks, allowing you to prioritize other more important matters. Of course, the tools you implement will depend on your team and/or industry. An editorial team may want to implement a content management system, while an engineering team will need prototyping software.
For companies involved in sales and legal work, contract management software can be invaluable. With this tool, you and your team can spend less time gathering signatures and managing documents and more time closing deals. Customized contract templates mean your sales reps can stop recreating standard contracts. Team members can collaborate on — and keep track of — revisions in one centralized place. And cloud-based storage keeps completed documents safely and economically stowed.
2. Adopt New Methodologies
When in the flow of your day-to-day, you may not even recognize what is slowing you down. For instance, you may not think about how many hours you spend checking your inbox and responding to emails. The key to a faster business is to identify what is creating the biggest bottlenecks in your current processes. Afterward, you can determine what new methodologies or processes can be implemented to optimize performance.
To identify your current bottlenecks, take a look at your time-tracking software or work calendar and note exactly what you’re spending your time on. Speaking of email, research has shown that email batching can reduce individuals’ burnout and emotional exhaustion. Often referred to as time blocking, this methodology is designed to devote specific times of your day to focused tasks. When the chunk of time is over, you move onto the next task no matter whether the current assignment is fully complete or not. For those who say they’re constantly “busy” but fail to complete anything, this method can be especially beneficial.
3. Delegate Tasks
This tip is particularly helpful for team managers and company leaders. Delegating less-critical tasks saves you time, allowing you to tackle more important tasks and focus on managing your team. When you delegate, you are empowering your employees to take on more responsibility. While removing some items from your own to-do list, you are giving them the chance to step up. As a result, delegation can boost employee morale and give rise to innovation and perhaps new methodologies, too.
Task delegation is crucial for your business’s growth, especially as you expand your own managerial roles and responsibilities. Your team will likely increase in size as you set your eyes on bigger goals and take on more clients. If you were to hold tight to all your tasks, you’d run the risk of overloading yourself and slowing yourself down.
When delegating tasks, be specific with your needs and ensure your team members know what is expected of them. The last thing you want is to get back a deliverable and end up redoing it yourself. That will both waste your time and deal a blow to your employee’s confidence. Giving them autonomy over the task, in contrast, shows that you trust them.
4. Improve Communication
Lastly, improving your communication channels speeds up processes and decision-making. There have likely been various times when you’ve had to wait on others in order to move forward with your own work. You may have been waiting on an email response when you just needed a yes or no answer on something. This is both frustrating and a drain on productivity. Improving communication is one way to resolve these issues, reducing lag time between tasks and projects.
Thanks to the rise in digital technology, there are numerous ways to communicate internally. While email is a no-brainer, it can — as noted — lead to slow response times. Instant messaging channels like Slack and Google Chat can greatly speed communication. Largely unheard of just a decade ago, IM platforms are now well-established parts of the working world. Videoconferencing provides an easy way to gather meeting participants, and it became the new normal due to the pandemic. When used for the appropriate purposes, all of these channels can improve communication internally and externally.
Takeaways
Speed is a differentiating factor in the business world. A business that lags behind won’t stand a chance among its competitors. If you’re a leader looking to speed up processes, make sure you take a look at the bigger picture. Being fast for the sake of it can be detrimental, as you either expand too quickly or launch too many products at once. Keep your eyes on the end goal and work backward to establish practical ways to reduce unnecessary downtime.