Slow productivity and performance are common concerns for all types of organizations, particularly small and medium-sized firms. Such companies face several obstacles, most of which are connected to increasing production and performance. Due to this, the majority of SMB executives believe they are at a competitive disadvantage when compared to larger and more established firms. Despite the fact that small and medium-sized firms face several problems, the emergence and development of technology provide a unique opportunity to compete with larger enterprises. This is the reason that tools such as okr programs and pms softwares are becoming increasingly popular lately.
In order to thrive, small and medium-sized firms must combine this technology with the appropriate strategy. When you’re running a small or medium-sized business (SMB), it’s easy to feel like you don’t have enough time to get everything done. However, making a few minor changes may drastically boost employee performance and productivity in your organization. Here are the top ten techniques to boost your productivity and effectiveness as a small business owner or manager.
Use collaboration and communication tools to your advantage
Communication has never been more vital. Shooting emails back and forth isn’t enough in this age of limited physical connection and distant employment. Even the simplest projects require teams to coordinate across many programs. Adding more stages to a previously easy procedure can jeopardize the efficiency of the most fundamental activities and drastically delay the entire operation.
The ideal method to manage a remote workforce is to invest in modern digital communication technologies, which are currently dominating the corporate environment. Through straightforward visual displays, live updates, and performance metrics that assess individual employees’ efficiency, these can enable quick and effective communication. Tools such as OKR software and an agile performance management tool have become more than necessary in today’s era.
Attain objectives through accountability
Productivity is a measure of time well spent, and the availability of additional accessible hours does not ensure that those hours will be productive or utilized. The first step is to guarantee that the staff allocates the appropriate labor hours. Tools that track when your employees sign in for the day will notify you if they are present and working for the appropriate hours. If you cannot track this data manually, you can install time-tracking software to handle it for you. Once you’ve determined that workers are working the required hours, assist them in making the most of their day. Giving staff clear daily objectives or targets can boost morale and productivity since individuals perform more effectively when focused on a specific goal with a deadline. The second step is to ensure that your employees are working on tasks that are within their scope of responsibility and are not working on tasks that are beyond their scope of responsibility. Okr program and pms software are known to be the most effective at establishing a culture of accountability.
Provide favorable working conditions
Employee satisfaction is crucial to performance. When evaluating one of those tiny tweaks, researchers discovered that even increasing the temperature a few degrees can enhance workplace productivity. Consider virtual equivalents for office amenities such as that luxury heating system you ordered. Make sure also to appreciate and recognize the efforts of your employees to make them feel appreciated and valued by the organization. A team that feels respected will be more motivated to be productive.
Focus on a few tasks at a time
Building a productive organization is a challenging task. There are numerous moving elements and limited time to complete all the tasks together. This is why organizations should determine their high-priority objectives and then focus on attaining them. Having an OKR tool enables organizations to focus on what matters the most to them. This results in boosting the productivity of the employees as they are focusing on certain objectives at a given point in time. Moreover, many new employees can get overwhelmed by the quantity of labor required in their first job. Rather than attempting to accomplish everything, new workers should concentrate on a few core duties at a time. This will help them to create a solid foundation of experience and knowledge, as well as to improve their abilities and prepare them to take on further duties in the future. When new workers are ready to take on more duties, they may always seek further advice and help from their manager. This will help them to become more efficient.
Eliminate time-wasting activities
Many operations and activities are still carried out manually in the organizations. These are frequently little but critical jobs. When such chores are automated, this will allow the employees to dedicate more time to more important procedures and to more tasks. The company’s operations should be examined and then the investment should be done in software that automates as many of those procedures as possible so that you the employees can get the monotonous job done effectively and the focus can be given on other critical responsibilities. Nowadays, organizations are using platforms such as Okr program and pms software that enables them to eliminate most of the time-wasting activities.
Use of constructive feedback to improve performance
It’s no secret that timely feedback is a very effective method for improving employee learning and development. Making feedback a part of the learning experience can assist in identifying and addressing roadblocks in real-time. Employees, in reality, want feedback to enhance their performance and broaden their skill set. Constructive feedback contributes to the creation of a pleasant work environment in which people may continually learn and flourish. Feedback has the capacity to engage people and create behavioral change in learning. Having tools that enable you to provide feedback in real-time is highly significant in establishing a productive workforce. Look for an agile performance management tool that facilitates you to do so.
Create an efficient and organized workflow
A big to-do list and pressing deadlines added to an already overflowing inbox of communications and digital notifications might overwhelm you and your staff. Redefine your routine to strike a balance that delivers a feeling of importance and clarity among the barrage of messages streaming across every screen. Examine your daily task list and prioritize each item. Rearrange the list and select which initiatives may be postponed or halted. Then, assist staff in concentrating on what is most important. In a virtual office, every signal may appear critical, so a periodic re-evaluation may save everyone time and energy and will ultimately increase productivity and performance.
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Gaurav Sabharwal
CEO of JOP
Gaurav is the CEO of JOP (Joy of Performing), an OKR and high-performance enabling platform. With almost two decades of experience in building businesses, he knows what it takes to enable high performance within a team and engage them in the business. He supports organizations globally by becoming their growth partner and helping them build high-performing teams by tackling issues like lack of focus, unclear goals, unaligned teams, lack of funding, no continuous improvement framework, etc. He is a Certified OKR Coach and loves to share helpful resources and address common organizational challenges to help drive team performance. Read More