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Fighting the Good Fight: 5 Tips to Increase Productivity
increase-productivity

Fighting the Good Fight: 5 Tips to Increase Productivity

By Jim Harkless

Productivity and efficiency are the “holy grails” of effective business strategy, as these two assets can cut down on a whole host of other issues, propelling a company to greatness. But of course, increasing productivity is much easier said than done, as executing a plan to improve in these areas is often met with resistance on all fronts.

But with some effort and dedication, you can improve your employees’ efficiency–and ultimately your own bottom line. Here are five simple steps to start increasing your company’s productivity today.

Don’t bury your head in the sand

The very best companies in the world are able to confront the truth about their current situation, regardless of how difficult it might be. Many businesses utilize simple project management software along with other tools to help gauge their current business performance.

Set achievable standards and goals

Chasing a nebulous concept like “productivity” is nearly impossible, but setting concrete, time-sensitive goals can be very effective. Using project management tools to create processes, work flows, and expected results is a great first step to cutting out inefficiencies and increasing your capacity for growth.

Be willing to adjust

The very best battle plans rarely survive contact with the enemy, and the same is true in business. What sounds great on paper or on the computer screen may not work in reality. Great business leaders are willing to scrap plans entirely, tweak existing plans heavily, or reset their vision and expectations as needed.

Upgrade your infrastructure

Now that you have your plan in place, you need to have the right tools to execute. If you’re still using aging applications or services like Microsoft Project, Office, and Outlook, it may be time for an upgrade. Look into cloud-based services like Basecamp or Workzone, which are geared toward internet-minded companies in the 21st century.

Share your results

With your new-found connection capabilities, you should be able to share results with the people in your company who need to see them the most. Unlike MS Project, online collaboration software offers features like online document management, so you can cooperatively work to better your productivity. Gathering data is great, but if it’s difficult to get pertinent information where it needs to go, it can be entirely useless.