Even if everyone in your office appears to be busy during the workday, productivity levels may not be as high as you think. Many businesses suffer from inefficient workflow, leading to hours wasted on unnecessary tasks. Although perfect efficiency isn’t possible and human error will always exist, business expert Jason Kulpa has some advice on the best ways to improve productivity throughout your office and rejuvenate employee workflow.
Revamp Employee Training and Development
An unproductive team might stem from problems with employee training. If your company doesn’t have a thorough new hire training process in place, you will likely end up with employees who hold the same position but have wildly different levels of relevant knowledge and training. This is especially true if multiple members of your staff are responsible for conducting training for new hires.
A productive team with an efficient workflow starts from the ground up. When you implement an in-depth training program for your new hires — one that rigorously tests information retention — and lead regular employee development sessions that reinforce this information, you’re much less likely to face significant workflow issues within your teams.
To address this issue, start by assessing the current training that your employees have received. Find the weak spots and set up intentional times to fill in those gaps. Next, ask your employees what would have made their job easier when they were first hired. Use this knowledge to improve your training process for new hires.
Set Up a Prioritization System
If you always expect a particular team member or employee to dedicate the same amount of energy and focus to every project that crosses their desk, regardless of the urgency or importance of the individual item, you’ll burn out your teams. Employees will end up having to short change more in-depth projects for the sake of a minorly important task.
Ensure that every task you assign to a team is labeled with its level of importance in relation to the other tasks on the docket. This way, your team will allocate the proper amount of time and energy to the tasks that need them the most, creating a smoother workflow.
Optimize Systems for Better Communication
Unnecessary, lengthy meetings and misunderstandings in the chain of responsibility are some of the most common issues for office workflow problems. Both of these issues come down to ineffective communication at their core.
Important information can be forgotten and lost during in-person meetings unless rigorous notes are taken. When employees get different information from various higher-ups, it can leave them feeling unsure of their exact responsibilities.
One of the most effective changes you can make to your office is to incorporate work-based communication platforms like Basecamp and Slack. These programs are designed to create a virtual office environment where employees can see their assigned tasks and upload any necessary files or documents into one accessible place.
Teams that work together on a specific project will maintain contact with each other while simultaneously having a central place to share files. Platforms like these help to make each employee’s designated tasks and deadlines much more straightforward.
Meet Jason Kulpa
Jason Kulpa is a serial entrepreneur and the Founder and former CEO of UE.co, San Diego’s Fastest Growing Business multi-year award winner, and a Certified Great Place to Work multi-year winner. Mr. Kulpa is a San Diego’s two-time winner of the Most Admired CEO Award of the San Diego Business Journal and also a semi-finalist for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur award.