10 Key Ways to Improve Your Business Productivity
Efficiency is an important priority in any business, but understanding how to improve your team’s business productivity is often not as easy as it seems. At 33Vincent, our Executive Assistants work tirelessly to support our clients so that they can get more done. Through our extensive support experience, we’ve identified 10 key ways to improve your business productivity so that you can get the most out of every day.
1. Boost Business Productivity by Automating Where Possible
The feeling of being buried under a series of repetitive and sometimes mundane tasks can be a major barrier in your quest to be productive each day. We recommend automating the things that you do repeatedly, to reduce the amount of manual work you do each day, and help ease the burden of decision fatigue. Automation can increase your entire company’s business productivity and leave more time for the deep work that’s critical to innovation and scaling.
Email management is one area where almost everyone spends a significant amount of time. It can quickly sidetrack your day and sap overall business productivity, which makes it a good place to start automating tasks. Set up rules in Outlook or smart labels in Gmail to automatically sort your emails, allowing you to focus on the most important messages first and then work on particular responses in batches. If you work with clients or customers and have touchpoints that require a typical response or directive, preparing email templates will reduce the time you spend writing the same information out time after time. Here are more great examples of processes that can be automated.
2. Focus on "The One Thing" to Get More Done!
For many of us, it feels that the never-ending to-do list is best accomplished by multitasking—knocking off several tasks at the same time. However, we recommend a different approach that encourages channeling your focus on just a single important item to increase your business productivity and general efficiency.
In their book The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results, Gary W. Keller and Jay Papasan ask "What is the ONE Thing I can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?" They encourage readers to define their purpose in life or major goal for their role, and focus specifically on getting to that point. They also argue that when you pursue your goals by starting with the one right thing, it leads to bigger things because you build energy in a geometric progression. The thought is that extraordinary success is sequential, and not something that is achieved by multitasking.
The big idea here is that when you focus on the ONE most important goal in your life and set aside anything that does not support that goal, everything else will fall into place. Ask yourself, “What’s my ONE Thing?” And then determine what can be done right now to work toward achieving that goal. Once you’ve reached that milestone, choose the next one thing.
The theory can be applied to any area of life, and when it comes to business productivity, it can be helpful to identify a timeframe for each one thing. You are likely doing a version of this already, by setting monthly, quarterly and annual goals for your job or company. What is key here is that instead of writing down a long––or even a short—list of key goals, aim your focus to the one big priority that you have for a given frame of time. You just might see big results that stretch far beyond your area of focus.
3. Have a Daily Standup SCRUM meeting
Daily standup SCRUM meetings have been shown to increase the effectiveness of teams and boost business productivity. This means just what it sounds like: gather your team each day and ask everyone to remain standing throughout the meeting. This will ensure the team focuses on what needs to be accomplished and keep the meeting short. Have a meeting at the same time and place every day, and keep it around 15 minutes.
The SCRUM method encourages the team to identify a sprint goal and then ask three key questions in relation to that goal:
1.) What did I do yesterday that helped the team meet the goal?
2.) What will I do today to help the team meet the goal?
3.) Do I see any impediment that prevents me or the team from meeting the goal?
By keeping the meeting short, sweet, and consistent, teams boost their business productivity by remaining focused and getting right to the point.
4. Save Time With an Executive Assistant
Every business leader has a list of daily tasks that take up the bulk of their time. These daily upkeep tasks like replying to piles of emails and adjusting meeting schedules aren’t always the best use of your limited time, and they sap your business productivity. An Executive Assistant can take the weight of these everyday tasks off of your shoulders so that you can focus on the bigger picture. We are pros at transforming schedules and creating effective solutions that will make you more successful. Find out more about what an Executive Assistant can do for you!
5. Use Task Management Software like Asana
Working in today’s world offers a lot of benefits in the form of technology, and task management software is a great tool to increase business productivity. At 33Vincent, we’ve used a number of these tools, and Asana remains one of the best options for managing tasks. We even highlighted it as one of the 7 Great Digital Tools Every Executive Assistant Should Use.
Asana makes it easy for teams to collaborate and manage all of their daily tasks. Breaking projects down into smaller chunks, and assigning tasks and deadlines to specific people, everyone can remain clear on who owns which piece. This eliminates the need for non-essential meetings, reduces email and in-person communication, and prompts next steps as soon as certain tasks are completed. In essence, it’s a secret weapon in the fight to understand how to increase workplace efficiency.
6. Use Company Culture to Increase Business Productivity
The culture of every company has a direct influence on how the company operates, and business productivity is no exception. Encouraging open communication between employees—and with management—will lead to an environment of trust which will have far-reaching benefits. But valuing open communication and implementing it in real-time are two very different things.
To ensure you are facilitating open communication, make sure you have transparency built into your company culture. That essentially means that you share important information across the company. Make sure that people in different departments are collaborating, even when it doesn’t seem obvious that they need to do so. Encourage everyone to ask specific questions, like “How does that project affect my role’s responsibilities?” or “How can I leverage my extra capacity next week to help Sarah with that deadline she shared?” Give honest feedback and ensure people feel safe speaking up when they see inefficiencies or roadblocks to success. You’ll be surprised at how much a great company culture will impact your business productivity!
7. Improve Company-Wide Communication
Knowing that open communication is so important, determine what tools your team could use to elevate how they communicate throughout the company. Think about the way that your employees currently connect with each other. Is it just through email and phone calls? If so, it might be time to expand their options. You’ll be surprised at how much improving communication can boost your business productivity.
Instant messaging has come a long way, and many new applications have optimized for workplace use. Slack is a great option—one that our Executive Assistants use here at 33Vincent. It integrates extremely well with other apps and helps organize conversations and decision-making with team-based channels.
Microsoft Teams is another great communication tool that allows seamless movement from group chat to video call. We also love Loom, which allows you to record videos of yourself or your desktop and add in audio to talk through critical details. It’s almost as good as being there in person. We also love Notion as a way to manage projects and task-lists for sprint deadlines.
Here are our 10 favorite apps we use to stay connected and productive in a remote work environment.
33Vincent uses these every day to boost efficiency, and they’re sure to help you improve your business productivity too!
8. Eliminate Non-Essential Meetings
How many times have you found yourself sitting in a meeting thinking, “Was this necessary?” While collaboration is key to ensuring all the parts of a team work efficiently, non-essential meetings can often end up being a waste of precious time. Inc. Magazine even argued that too many meetings were the number one way to kill business productivity. Here are 33Vincent, our Executive Assistants are experts at planning and executing effective meetings when they are needed. However, it’s worth taking inventory of where you could cut back.
When determining whether a meeting is needed, there are a few key questions to ask yourself. Are all the critical people needed for this meeting available to attend? Are you a helpful contributor to the topic at hand, and if so are you fully prepared to provide helpful input? Could the goals of this meeting be accomplished through other means, such as a project management tool or detailed report? Will these topics be covered in an alternate meeting that’s already on the calendar? The answers to these questions may provide a clear answer as to whether or not a meeting is really needed. It also greatly helps business productivity to ask your employees to limit those quick “Got a minute?” meetings too. Encourage them to use instant messaging software or short Loom videos instead!
Think for a minute about the recurring meetings that you have on your calendar. How many “Weekly Check-Ins” or “Monthly Touch-Bases” do you have that actually add value to you and your team’s work? While we usually put these meetings in place to ensure that we stay connected with clients or team members or get updates on key projects, we often fail to do an audit of them to determine whether they are still beneficial. Ask other attendees if it is worth reducing the frequency or even removing these meetings altogether. Everyone will benefit from an extra hour in their day, allowing them to focus on other important tasks thereby improving your business productivity.
Find yourself stuck with too many meetings that “could have been an email?” Read our recent article on creating effective meetings here!
9. Limit Workplace Distractions
Regardless of the environment you work in, there are always distractions that affect your business productivity. Between the sights and sounds, the people you share your space with, and the other pressing requests that fight for your attention, distractions in the workplace can jeopardize how productive you are in a day.
Imagine you are deep in the middle of an important task and you hear the familiar “ding” of a new email or text message. It’s almost impossible not to look, which is why it is critical to limit interruptions from technology. Notifications and pop-ups have changed the way that we work, and really even the way that we live. Choose a period throughout the day to dedicate deep, focused work and turn off your notifications.
People can also steer you away from your point of focus, leading to decreased business productivity. If you work in a physical office with other people, block off office hours and let people know that you will be unavailable during those times. Set up a ‘Do Not Disturb’ status on any personal or company chat platforms. If you are concerned that people will worry when you are not responding immediately to texts or emails, set up an automatic reply to let them know that you will be offline for a bit, and when they can expect a reply.
Consider the physical space that you work in and how it might be affecting your work. Does a view out the window keep pulling your gaze away from your screen, or does the sunlight help you focus? Consider what visual distractions may be putting a dent in your day. Similarly, are you sensitive to any audio distractions around you? Would listening to music or a podcast help increase your productivity? Find the things that you know help you to focus when you really need to zone in, and keep that toolkit for when you need it most.
All of this applies to your employees as well! Encouraging them to follow these steps will help increase your overall business productivity too — not just your own.
Our recent article “10 Fast Ways to Improve Your Concentration” has some more great science-backed tips on how to limit your distractions and increase your focus!
10. Practice Positive Reinforcement and Ensure Employees are Happy!
Most employers want their workers to be happy, but there are real benefits linked to having a happier workforce. Studies show that happier workers are 12-13% more productive! You read that right—one of the key factors when asking how to increase business productivity is determining how to keep employees happy.
Positive reinforcement is a powerful tool in ensuring that employees are happy within their roles. You can create an environment of positive reinforcement by encouraging a particular behavior through the offering of a desired stimulus. This method is incredibly effective in teaching or training employees, and avoids the negativity of more corrective methods.
To do this, focus less on what a person is doing incorrectly, and instead offer praise and appreciation when they do something well. This sets up a system of conditioning people to know what behaviors or actions are most valued. Monetary rewards, such as raises and bonuses, are used as standard forms of positive reinforcement, but there are other methods that work. Some companies offer awards and recognition to employees who perform the best, or who reach certain goals or milestones. Positive feedback also works well, and not just during review periods. Offering words of praise, especially in social settings, can be very effective as well. In this case, specific and immediate praise is typically the most effective.
Helping high-performing leaders increase business productivity is at the heart of what we do at 33Vincent. We have learned through many years of experience what it takes to boost productivity and efficiency, and the steps outlined here are a great start!. If you’re ready to take your business productivity to the next level, consider connecting with us to understand how an Executive Assistant can enhance your impact!
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