The new year could be a great time to think about optimizing your businesses’ processes and, the key to this is improving your team’s workflow. Use the guide below to boost productivity, improve employee morale and get everything running more smoothly.
Get Everyone On The Same Page
First and foremost, the most important thing that you can do is to make sure that all staff members are on the same page: in other words, ensure that everyone knows the overarching mission of the project or campaign, what it is designed to achieve, and how their tasks contribute to the success of this wider goal.
Regular meetings, both those held with the whole team and one-on-one, can help with this and allow colleagues to ask plenty of questions and to put forward concerns. A recent survey found that nearly three-quarters of employees thought that their managers did not sufficiently explain their plans and business goals to them, meaning that there’s a subsequent risk of staff working inefficiently or without clear direction.
Keeping your staff members informed and in the loop can be one of the most effective ways of improving workflow and preventing, for example, duplication of work. Project management software can help with this: have a look at https://www.top10.com/project-management/reviews/clickup for an example of this type of tool and the benefits that it can deliver to your business. This includes the provision of task lists and Kanban views, task dependency and collaboration tools, and a workload visualizer. All of these elements can increase productivity and help your project to run as efficiently as possible. This link will give you an idea of what you can expect to pay for this type of software, too, and the payment options available.
Put A Decision-Making Hierarchy In Place
Establishing ownership of various tasks is a very important element of keeping the workflow smooth. It’s vital that all staff members know where to turn in the event of a problem or when a management decision needs to be made quickly. Research has also found that ownership of tasks helps to boost staff morale and productivity significantly and can help team members feel invested in and connected to the task or project at hand.
Putting a decision-making hierarchy in place is a key element of the structuring of a specific project or an overall method of working and can help make for a settled and productive work environment and team.
Create A Knowledge Repository
To help processes and tasks flow uninterruptedly, consider creating a general one-stop base for knowledge, where general information and frequently asked questions – regarding either the project or the business practices in general – are kept. This can prevent, as a manager, you from being required to answer the same question from multiple members of staff, and means that everyone is working to the same standardized set of rules, policies and following one set of general processes.
Find a way of sharing and keeping this information that all employees can easily access; keeping it updated is key, and so be sure that all team members have permission to edit and save this data.
Communication Is Key
The most effective teamwork happens as a result of consistently excellent communication, and so creating and maintaining an environment that promotes this is vital when it comes to improving overall workflow.
Get started by putting together and disseminating a clear communication plan that advises staff members what they can expect: such as outlining the process if someone wants to raise an issue or concern with a manager, and how often team members can expect to have one-to-one meetings to assess and discuss their performance.
During meetings with your team, be sure to actively listen, rather than just giving out instructions and updates, and make clear plans to resolve any issues that are raised.
Reward And Recognize
Keeping your team motivated and engaged in the task at hand is crucial to optimizing workflow and for a happy work environment. Rewarding and recognizing hard work and achievements is one of the best ways to achieve these things. An in-person expression of gratitude is a simple gesture that can go a long way, or consider having part of the weekly team meeting dedicated to celebrating individual and team successes – this is also a great idea for keeping your team happy.
Promotions, bonus payments, or the provision of extra days of leave can all be used to effectively drive up motivation and boost staff retention rates.
How Optimizing Workflow Can Help Grow Your Business
Once you have established some clear processes to optimize and streamline your businesses’ workflow, you will most likely find that productivity is boosted, too, and resources deployed more efficiently. You can expect staff time to be freed up, as a result, meaning that team members can be redeployed to new tasks that could be focused on growing your business. Use the tips above to level up your businesses’ workflow, and make 2022 your year of corporate growth.
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