Efficiency is Not a Dirty Word

Efficiency is Not a Dirty Word

How to Become More Efficient

You hear all the time that you or your company needs to be more efficient. But, do you know how to accomplish that? Efficiency seems like a word that is thrown at as the end-all be-all answer to problems within an organization. Without a proper plan, the likely result will be confusion and chaos. The following tips can help you when you are given the initiative to be more efficient.

Time Management

If you and your team are not managing your time efficiently, you are going to find it hard to move the company forward. The team will constantly be missing deadlines and playing catch up. This makes the group look bad and causes undue stress on the team. The likely result will be high turnover at times when team members are needed the most.

There are plenty of tools and resources available to you from online calendars and courses which show you the best tips for mastering this skill. If you are struggling in this area, do some research or take some courses and watch how much time you can actually free up from your busy schedule.

Learning

Always be on the lookout for how to improve your job or your teams’ jobs. This often requires learning new skills. The more you learn, the easier it will be to find alternative methods that work better.

As a learning and development professional, I have worked with thousands of individuals on improving various business skill sets. There’s nothing more empowering or inspiring than hearing about the successes our participants have after taking a course and applying the skills back on the job. Learning isn’t an option in our fast paced work environment. Invest in yourself and your employees if your company has the budget. Watch how much more effective and efficient you and your whole team become.

Organization

If your office environment is cluttered and there is no sense of organization, it can impact the productivity of the entire group. There are professionals who can assess your current situation and make recommendations on how to improve the environment. This can include such aspects as desk clutter, filing, and even ergonomic issues and proper placement of fixtures or furniture.

I won’t claim to be the expert in this area. I often have clutter and excessive items. I like to think of it as “organized chaos.” I can and do know where to find things in my environment. At home, my entire family often asks me where things are, even when they were the last ones to use the item. At work, I was often asked about where information was in the various online files or even hard copy ones. So although I am still working on this, I do know that when I am organized, it is less stressful and much easier to find things when I need them.

Automation

When you find ways to automate, this frees up your staff to work on more important tasks. Mundane tasks that eat away the time of your staff are the best candidates for automation.

For example, if you are a soloprenuer who needs to post on various social media, you may decide to use tools like a social media scheduling tool (like Social Pilot) which allows you to pre-schedule posts and even get curated ones for use. Saves time from having to go to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. every day to post links to your site. Or if you are a coach and spent tons of time trying to share your available time slots with your clients, you may determine you need to use an online appointment scheduling system (like Acuity Scheduling).

Remember, is possible to go overboard with automation which can cause slowdowns when the automation processes fail. Try to determine the best tasks to automate without overdoing it.

Delegate

If you are micromanaging the work of your team, you won’t have time to handle your own tasks. Your team won’t respect the fact that you are doing tasks that they should be doing. You hired them for a reason. Let them get their jobs done. It’s okay for them to come to you when they get stuck. But, you should guide them rather than simply doing everything for them.

If you struggle with this, remember to use the “learning” skill we discussed earlier. Take a class (online or in person) to master this vital leadership skill. Spirit Infused is developing a course which we’ll share in the near future.

Outsource

With corporate cutbacks, delegating may not be easy to accomplish. Companies are expecting their employees to do more with less. But, managers still need to get their work done. In such cases, it may be worthwhile to consider outsourcing some of the tasks of your team. The benefits of outsourcing are that it does not increase the company’s headcount.

Efficiency is not a dirty word. It’s a necessary one if we are going to succeed whether in our business or personal life. Try out a few of these tips and see if you don’t agree!