6. Use Apps
Many apps can improve a company’s productivity. Some examples of these apps are Slack®, Hive®, Google® Docs, and ToDoist®.
These apps can calendar or shared documentation software platforms. If we take Google docs as an example, people can edit the same document simultaneously. There is no need to send the document in back-and-forth emails.
In a typical working environment, people would access the document as an attachment, read it, and send it back. It entails hours of wait time from the final recipient’s end. With Google docs, people can edit the document together.
Another good example of an app you can use to facilitate automation is an invoice generating tool that makes it easy to send invoices to clients. With this tool, you can automate the entire process and not have to type each piece of information again & again.
7. Track Time Spent
One good practice in a business is called Time in Motion—you track how much time a person spends on each task. People measure actions per mouse click, or per action required to complete a task at a granular level.
At the end of the study, you take a look at the top activities where people spend most of their time. Then, you make a decision on how to improve that.
8. Use the Pareto Principle
The Pareto Principle is also called the 80/20 Rule. In essence, it says that 80% of the problems are because of 20% of the root causes. Below is a case to demonstrate it.
- There are five printers
- 800 of the 1,000 prints are bad
- You decide to fix all printers
This decision is wrong. In the Pareto Principle, it is likely that a vast majority of the defective prints are happening because of only two printers.
If you fix all five printers, you just spend a ton of money. The thing is that you could have fixed only the two that are causing the problem. The Pareto Principle is about analyzing root causes.
Since you cannot solve all problems, you only fix the ones that are causing the most issues. It is a matter of getting the most out of the effort to fix the root causes.
9. Reduce Meetings
Many business leaders love meetings. It makes them talk, and the entire ordeal centers around them. Meetings, to be honest, are pretty useless. Meetings are only meaningful if there is a real agenda or if there is an important announcement.
Stop meeting your team often. Instead, meet once a week and then make sure every accountability is clear. If you spend hours in meetings, your team could have used that time to work and be productive.
10. Automate Tasks If Possible
There are many machines now that you can use to automate tasks. For example, there is no need to calculate sales and profits on a manual basis. At the very least, there are spreadsheet programs that can calculate inputs via formulas.
Better yet, use software programs. For example, you can use applications to help you manage your inventory. Instead of counting stocks one by one, you view the report from the app and then make decisions from there.
You can do the same with printing shipping labels, managing payroll, taxes, inventory, and so much more. While the financial investment may seem high, it certainly is cheaper than relying on manual work.
Summary
Productivity is an important aspect of business success. One mistake that many managers make is to simply bark orders at their employees.
This kind of management is archaic—it does not work anymore as there are better ways to motivate employees.
Instead of looking at people, look at the process. Determine if there are practices that you can improve or if you can use tools as leverage to get the job done faster.
A hack is never about employees working faster. On most occasions, it is about working smarter.