Creating an Efficient Business

Efficiency measures and determines productivity in any business, large or small.  It’s crucial to identify and define the top priorities in the business in order to create a roadmap to a smoother, leaner-running business.  Focusing on one of your most important resources—your employees—is the first place to start:

Make it easy to work together

Smooth collaboration between employees, partners, suppliers, and customers is a sure-fire way to boost efficiency while also reducing costs.  You can use GigaBook to immediately create efficiencies in your business.  Through the use of shared resources you can make communication amongst your staff through the use of shared calendars, to-do lists, centralized client lists and also through use of the various reminders and notifications you have access to.

Define and execute a clear project plan for reaching your goals

It’s important to have the big picture in mind, but start small. If you define everything in the beginning, with your key staff, by what you think it’s going to look like in the end, you’re embarking on a very difficult approach. Start small, collect experience, define what’s really needed and then grow the solution over the time together.

Make your staff more efficient

Empower your staff to make as many decisions for themselves as possible, then sit back and watch how they thrive with that newfound sense of responsibility and ownership.  You’ll find yourself with more time to focus on the strategic decisions that will drive your business forward.  Using your To-Do List section of GigaBook is an easy way to request help from your co-workers or even delegate items out of your own list by simply dragging them to another list.

Clarity of purpose

When employees know the larger context, they can make better decisions and better prioritize. Clarity of purpose gives the information needed to do the best work. Lack of clarity often leads to a lack of motivation.

Clarity of plan

If your staff isn’t clear on your business plan, it leads to confusion. Identify the steps needed to reach your goal.  Your staff can add steps to a single, shared list, the list is always up-to-date, and everyone has access to it.  Steps may be modified as the project progresses, creating an environment where nothing will fall between the cracks which creates calm and comfort among team members. Everyone knows when each step will happen and what’s next.

Know What You’re Doing, When You’re Doing It, and Why

On a big project, it’s bound to happen: one person thinks someone else was doing a task and nobody ends up doing it, or more than one person does it and you wind up with a duplication of efforts. With a productivity tool, this won’t happen. Everyone on the team goes through a list of identified tasks—they’re assigned, delegated, or chosen—and the result is a cohesive plan.

The 80/20 Rule strikes again

Prioritize the most important task you need to get done. Do your least desirable tasks first thing in the morning.  A daily to-do list of 3-5 things you MUST get done is attainable. Don’t try to do too much, don’t try to optimize too much, delegate, stay focused on the big picture.  A small number of decisions makes up the majority of your life experience , hence the 80/20 rule. Therefore, a small number of activity choices make up the large majority of your achievements…or lack thereof.

Shorter meetings fuel efficiency

Hold a brief meeting standing up, every morning, where each person explains what they are going to work on that day. This will ensure everyone is on the right track and not wasting time on non-urgent tasks. By doing this standing up, you can make sure the meeting is energized and to the point.

Use GigaBook to Automate Client and Staff Reminders

Small businesses should be looking to innovations in technology to solve day-to-day inconveniences.  For example, a huge amount of time is often spent on admin and sending information back and forth between various parties. A lot of time could be saved through automating your client and staff reminders.  GigaBook allows you to customize and automate these processes, resulting in higher completion rates and reduced client no-shows.