How much is every minute worth to you? You can find out. You can take all the wages you pay, all the utilities, expenses and overheads of a day’s working hours. Then figure out what a minute’s worth of spending is for your business. You’ll find it’s likely higher than you thought. When you consider that roughly 30% of time is wasted at work, that’s a huge expense you can’t handle. So here’s how to make sure that the time you’re paying for is used responsibly.
Prioritise
The inability of people to properly organize and prioritise their time is what’s going to play a huge role in time wasted. Start teaching people how to effectively get into the working mindset. Have them start the day by creating a to-do list. Eliminate the tasks that don’t need to be done. Then reorder the remainder to go with the most important first. Unimportant tasks that can be rushed should be left until the end of the working day.
Eliminate your busy work
Amongst those tasks, there are going to be jobs that, simply put, don’t have to be done by you. Try using things like virtual assistants and accounting software. With them, you take a lot of the admin time directly out of your own responsibility. The less unnecessary busy work you have, the more time you can manage towards more important tasks.
Know when to let go
Be aware of the fact that you’re part of a team. Not everyone in that team is going to have even workloads. It’s important to understand when an employee makes it clear they don’t have time to take on additional duties. Still, you should be aware that delegation is an option. They can be an important tool in freeing up your time as well as the time as others who are currently inundated with responsibilities. Delegation is a tactic that the whole team can use, not just the boss.
Get everything moving on time
Not everything that wastes your time comes from the organization of people. Sometimes it’s down to the organization of materials and resources. If you have a supply chain you need to keep going, ensure you keep it smooth. See if logistics consultants can’t help you smooth out any problems.
Take care of your tech
A blockage in your supply chain can be a problem. The same goes for your flow of data. Nowadays, most of us rely on tech in the majority of our jobs. If people have trouble sending data to one another or retrieving files they need, it can waste huge amounts of time. You need to set up an effective IT system for the business. Whether it’s Cloud based or a physical data server, make sure it’s handled by professionals.
Making the proper use of time is all about people and tools. Energizing and focusing your team is hugely important. But you can’t ignore the aspects of technology and logistics that play into it, either. Strive towards improving these and you’ll have a business that operates faster and more effectively.
