Continuously seeking approaches for improvement is a process that is undertaken by all successful entrepreneurs. To boost the growth of your start-up, you can’t simply sit idly and expect to see development. One of the key ways to improve your business is to discover ways to boost efficiency and effectiveness of your processes and functions. Through undertaking research, you can discover ways to maximise productivity in your start-up. Here are 9 top strategies to improve productivity in your start-up.
1. Maximise your break time
Do you feel as though you are spending a large portion of your break time unproductively? Rather than taking half your break waiting in line for a coffee or lunch at a café, skip the queue by ordering beforehand. The Hey You app allows you to pick out your meal from a variety of nearby cafes and restaurants and pay for your order all via your smartphone or desktop. This is perfect when organising team lunches where your staff can order together and pay separately using the app.
2. Provide nutritious food and drinks in the office
The physical health of a productive employee is not only dependent on their level of fitness, but also what they eat. Take the initiative to encourage healthy eating habits by providing nutritious drinks and food in your office. Drinks such as Kenko Matcha and coffee have been shown to enhance alertness and performance but can also improve overall mood and mental wellbeing. Brewing the perfect cup of coffee can be tricky, Home Grounds recommends using these pour over coffee makers to make your life a little easier. You should also provide a healthy range of snacks such as fruits, veggies, hummus dips and low-calorie chips.
3. Communicate your goals
Communication is a vital part of boosting productivity within start-ups, especially while radical changes are being made for growth and expansion. Ensure to communicate your business goals to your staff, key partners and customers to enhance transparency and trust. Your goals will need to be SMART – specific, measurable, actionable, realistic and timely. You should also clearly define your start-up’s mission and vision, ensuring it is aligned with the functions of the business. Clearly communicated goals enhances motivation through all stakeholders of your start-up as well as attaining a greater understanding on the direction of your business.
4. Ensure your environment is optimised for productivity
Take a look around your work desk. Is it highly cluttered with unnecessary paper documents and covered with miscellaneous items? If yes, then you will need to undertake a clean up to declutter your work environment and prevent distractions. You should also promote good hygiene to prevent illnesses and contagious diseases within the office, also decreasing staff turnover and absenteeism. Be sure to provide hygienic products such as hand sanitisers, antiseptic wipes and hand soaps readily available for your staff to use.
5. Use collaborative productivity tools
For small start-up teams, online collaborative tools give businesses the extra edge to work productivity and communicate effectively. Asana is a perfect way to measure progress and keep tabs with tasks and projects within the team. Google Hangouts is another valuable collaborative tool to communicate to remote staff or even conduct meetings with clients. Through the messenger chat, voice call and video call, you can keep in touch with people via any device. You can also take advantage of the Slack app to foster open conversations and discuss projects all within the one platform.
6. Understand the importance of upskilling
As an entrepreneur, you know all too well the importance of learning more about business operations, the industry and your target niche. Not only will you need to upgrade your skills, but also your staff to keep on top of news, trends and technologies that can affect or act an opportunity for the business. Upskilling can be attained through meetings, attending industry conferences, listening to podcasts and reading business articles.
7. Maintain physical health
Since you are spending hours in your seat at work, you will be more prone to neck and back strains and injuries. This often leads to unproductive downtime through a lack of focus as well as taking days off of work to recover or seeing a physiotherapist. Ensure to focus on your physical health by taking 10-30 minutes break to conduct stretching exercises with your staff. Not only will this help to boost alertness and overall productivity, but also increase mental wellness and mood.
8. Take advantage of criticism
Gaining insights from reviews and criticism is an effective way of discovering new ways to improve specific areas of your start-up and understanding the needs of important stakeholders. Receive feedback from customers, company partners and staff and use the information that you have gathered to evaluate the work processes in your start-up. As your staff and customers know that they can express their thoughts are being heard by the company, this will also foster greater morale.
9. Track how long you are spending on tasks
Do you end up spending time on a task far longer than you intended? Use apps such as RescueTime that allows you to monitor the time that you spend on applications and websites. You will also be able to set alerts on a specific amount of time that you dedicate to a website or software and stick to your task schedule.
No matter how developed your start-up is, ensuring that you can boost productivity in your business will result in long-term benefits for your business. What strategies will you incorporate to improve productivity in your start-up?