Whether you are expanding your business, or you’re trying to get down to the bare basics of what makes it work, efficiency and productivity are integral. But when it comes to making the business run like a finely tuned instrument, it can be difficult to pinpoint the best processes. The real way to get it up and running is to establish a baseline of efficiency. What are the best ways to do this?

Evaluating The Employees

We have to give consideration to the workforce and how productive they are. If there’s more than one department, we have to undertake individual assessments of each one. By establishing if there are certain weak links, we can determine whether it’s to do with individuals or the process.

To evaluate the employees, it needs to become part of the infrastructure of the business. In a cultural sense, it makes sense for evaluations to be part of the framework, so employees know that they are going to have their skills tested. And as far as productivity is concerned, it can be a very intimidating thing to test their skills on a regular basis. But this is why you’ve got to do it in a friendly manner. It’s helpful to have it be part of the culture, but it’s also important to ensure that people don’t feel that you’re attacking them for their supposed lack of skill. It’s a very difficult balance.

Do You Have The Right Tools?

As far as processes are concerned, it’s a lot to do with the systems we have. We can put information into a computer, but if the system isn’t running at its optimum, we have to evaluate the tools to ensure that they are doing what’s expected. And it’s not even in terms of the computerized systems, but we got to think about certain outsourced aspects of the company. If we’re struggling to make ends meet, outsourcing non-essential components or aspects that we’re not particularly skilled in will be beneficial. If you’re looking to expand your business, hiring an ecommerce development company or website designer to fine-tune the business brand can help to improve the general efficiency of a company.

Outsourcing is one of those double-edged swords. A lot of people believe that it can damage the business because it’s taking numerous processes out from within the beating heart of the company. On the other hand, there are those that are looking to save money at every turn. As far as efficiency is concerned, saving money can go hand-in-hand.

Making Goals Achievable

This goes back to the productivity of your staff. If you continually set targets that are above and beyond what is achievable, you will naturally create a lot of consternation in the ranks. It’s about making the goals achievable first, and then slowly expanding the individual’s reach. It goes back to that 80/20 principle, that you can achieve 80% of the results with 20% of the time or effort. A lot of this is to do with mind over matter, but it’s also about slowly applying the pressure on employees.

There is no point in asking them to go from 0 to 100 miles an hour, but rather, you turn the dial up in increments. To make goals achievable, you need to track the progress, but also ensure that your workers are sufficiently motivated.

Keeping Employees Engaged

Motivation is one of those factors that is different for everyone. And you can’t put everybody into the same box. Some people work differently, and this is even more difficult when you’ve got different teams. Because it’s not a one-size-fits-all approach, finding ways to keep employees engaged and motivated can be a test all in itself. A lot of it is to do with the right person.

• Sometimes having employees take on a different role can help, but sometimes, ensuring that your employees have a perspective of their place in the business, by introducing a skill swap session, or just having employees sit on a different team for a few hours, gives them a whole new point of view of the business.

• Sometimes we can be so fixated on our own individual duties that we neglect the bigger picture. What we need to do is imbue our employees with a vision of the big picture.

This doesn’t just work for productivity, but it works to improve the culture of the business as an entity.

Engage Customers And Clients

Keeping them engaged in one respect is about the best CRM system, but in another way, it’s about listening to them, getting feedback and finding ways that we can fine-tune these issues that benefit everyone. Efficiency in the 24/7 world means that we’ve got to be quick on the ball. We have to please customers and clients, and we have to do it yesterday.

This is a lot of stress, but this also means we need to find ways to keep the brand bubbling away in the background, even if there aren’t people working. A lot of this is to do with systems that post on social media on a regular basis, but also, it’s about finding the truth amongst it all. Marketing is one of those aspects that can be difficult to achieve once you’ve hit a certain level.

You may be marketing to a bigger group of people, but if you don’t listen to what they have to say, it will all be in vain, and you will have wasted a lot of money. Always listen to your clients and customers. After all, they are giving you the tools you need to make a better company.

Efficiency and productivity are two things that are constantly being taken to task. It can be a very long road to get it right. But this is why we have to establish some baseline before we have big plans to push the company further into the stratosphere.

By establishing a baseline where the employees are carefully considered, in conjunction with the right tools, we can begin to develop a company that’s efficient and effective.

© New To HR