If you are an entrepreneur with a small business, you will always be thinking of ways to make things better, increase productivity, and make more money. You may have come up with many ideas and strategies, but it is a constant task because your competition will be doing the same.
The best way to stay ahead is to do a lot of research and try new things to give you that productivity edge. To help you out, I talked to a few business owners that have teams and we came up with a few productivity tips:
Upgrade your software
The computer systems you use to run your business are absolute essentials. If you have not kept up with the times and still have a system that was built many years ago, your productivity will be hampered as old systems become more buggy and may not be designed for the workload you are asking it to deal with.
I’ve consistently purchased a new Mac desktop and laptop every 3 years since I started my business in 2010.
For those who use Windows, Microsoft Office 365 suite is an example of how you can use new software to improve your ability to create more dynamic spreadsheets and make better presentations, and much more.
Involve your staff
Every member of your team has specialist knowledge of your company and how it operates. From the receptionist to the IT analyst. They all will have some ideas on how to improve the business. In order to involve the staff, you could hold weekly meetings. This could be a feedback session and an update on how the company is progressing. Discuss certain decisions.
Ask your staff for ideas on how to improve. No holds barred. Reward honesty, but don’t allow it to become a moaning session. Also, you need to ensure you do not hold any grudges. So be strong. If any changes are implemented off the back of what they say, then staff will feel motivated. If you make the atmosphere more that of a family, then your staff will be more emotionally connected to the business.
Outsource
Be honest, are there any tasks that your in-house team struggles to do, or find the time for? Some tasks that are particularly complicated or time-consuming, or even artistic, such as marketing, may mean that they are far better off being outsourced to an outside company.
In the long run, this can save you time and money, and you know that the job will be done correctly the first time by a specialist in that field.
Toughen up
Don’t let one bad egg demotivate the rest of your team. All it takes is one member of staff who moans all the time to ruin it for everyone else. Usually, these people have bad performance as well. As soon as you start to notice a problem, you need to take these people aside and begin documenting their performance and behavior.
You will need them to sign documents so you can prove they were warned when and if you need to make the decision to let them go. This will also be seen as a warning to the rest of the staff.