
For a wise man, there is no such thing as overnight success. Success is merely taking small steps every day towards one big goal. When we talk about running a business, one should always look for ways to cut down on cost and raise profits. There are some clear-cut ways to save money. Moreover, there are some daily things which cost employees a plethora of time and money. When these small things are not taken seriously, they can turn into giant problems and spiral out of control.
We did some math at our organization and came across these eight productivity killer things which can cost a fortune to your business.
Meetings
A meeting is an event where minutes fly away, and the hours get lost in oblivion. If the meeting is well-planned, it’s great; but most organizations waste too much time in meetings which don’t add up to anything.
Sure, you need to stay up-to-date with the progress of the project, but that doesn’t give you the authority to steal time and cost the company unnecessarily. The key to a successful meeting is planning.
Before the meeting, come to terms with the agenda behind the meeting. Set out a maximum time limit to keep things under control. Whenever you feel like the meeting is getting out of hand, pull the plug and call it a day.
2) Old age processes
A survey revealed that more than 42% of employees feel that they are working on inefficient or outdated business processes which are affecting the productivity of employees. It’s common to see papers lying around on desks. Employees are making a manual effort to collect data from several sources. In this digital age, these papers and manual data collection doesn’t seem right.
For instance, you can try a professional task management tool such as TaskQue to automate your tasks and help you finish your projects before the deadline. It doesn’t matter if your company is small or big if you don’t automate your tasks it will spell badly for your business.
3) Avoid being a Micromanager
It is your business. It is your baby. You feel the urge to handle the tiniest detail of your business. When you start a business, it is necessary to micromanage every façade of your organization. However, once you’ve developed systems for your business, it is not wise to keep managing those tiny things.
Delegate as much as you can. Hire people who are smarter than you and let them do their jobs without interrupting them. Trust me. Give people a chance, and they will astonish you in countless ways.
Of course, keep your finger on the pulse of your business, but don’t let it deviate you from the most important things. Time is the most valuable currency. Stop double-checking the work of your employees. Let them work in peace. Just because people do things differently than you, doesn’t mean they are wrong. Take a step back and hope for something good.
4) Excessive emails
A study found that more than 40% of employees waste their time on internal emails. No need to reply to all the emails that flood your inbox. Sometimes it is best to discuss things vis-a-vis. Checking every email in your inbox can be a distraction.
Turn off automatic email updates and switch to checking manual emails twice a day. Once in the morning and once right after lunch.
For collaborating with your team, you can take help from TaskQue. No need to worry about missing deadlines. Take project management to the next level. Never again will you feel the need to prioritize your essential tasks.
For urgent emails, you can use particular rules which will keep your communication smooth. Set reminders for important emails and leave out those that are not worth replying to.
5) Nugatory Gossips
Only 28% of people feel that surfing on the internet makes them lag behind on deadlines. The real productivity killer is aimless gossips. No kidding. A survey concluded that 43% of people feel that interacting with their co-workers or indulging in idle chat, forced them to forget their actual work.
As they say, don’t blame the sinner, condemn the sin. Most conversations that occur at work are either trivial or gossip. Don’t set yourself in the dogma of office politics and what you had for dinner yesterday?
If you are a chatty cathy employee, take some lessons on emotional intelligence. Know and understand when the other person is working and when you are interrupting your employees. Talk less and work more. Oh, yes if gossips don’t affect your job, go and discuss everything from personal stuff to the latest cat videos on the internet.
There is a reason why remote work is gaining popularity. Working and managing remote work enables managers to get a hold on things while keeping everything in balance.
6) Burrowing yourself too much in Administrative work
A study has revealed that people are wasting too much time and energy in scheduling, reporting, and trivial tasks. Are you one of them? What might seem like a favor to the company might be killing precious time?
There are administrative tools available on the internet which can speed-up your administrative tasks. From paying your employees to scheduling everything in the company. Use these tools to make things smoother.
Track the amount of time you are wasting on these small administrative tasks and replace them with automated software.
7) Focusing on Irrelevant data
There are so many tools that can analyze data, and you can make an informed decision. However, at times, not all of that data is important. Pick the relevant metrics which are beneficial to your business and omit out the rest.
There is no golden rule for defining the right KPIs of a business. They vary from project to project and company to company. Figure out the data which can help your business and ask people to keep an eye on that data.
8) Lack of motivation
As it turns out, $300 billion is the cost of an unmotivated workforce. Money is not the ultimate motivator at work. It is the environment. The team, and how much you’re appreciated at work that keeps employees motivated at the workplace.
There are numerous ways to engage your employees. Reward them for their efforts; don’t just ask for results. Give constructive feedback. Ask employees what they love the most about their work and ensure that they are getting all of it.
Of course, there are countless distractions on a typical day of an employee. The last thing you want to do is to engage them in meaningless tasks. These daily distractions can leave the employees feeling empty and listless. If the leader doesn’t take it seriously, who will make the employees work and save the company some precious dollars?
Brilliant article