If you want to make your company more competitive and profitable, you have to make it more productive. You want to generate the most sales possible using the fewest inputs you can. In the ideal situation, you’d hire one person to oversee your entire operation and get machines to do the rest. (And some people think that that’s where we are headed).
But what can you do today to improve productivity and get your team motivated? Let’s take a look.
Divide Your Time Into 90-Minute Sessions
Research shows that well-rested people are able to perform at their best for around 90 minutes at a time. After that, they need to move, stretch and take a short break.
It’s a good idea, therefore, to talk about this concept with your employees. Working straight for an hour and a half on a task and then pausing for rest is a great way to get the job done faster and use time optimally. Breaks themselves actually help to increase productivity by raising how much workers can get done in a day overall.
Keep Your Machines Running
If you automate any part of your process using machines, make sure that you keep them running. Businesses often get into trouble when they build labor-saving technologies and then don’t maintain and service them correctly.
This is a problem that brands such as Metrology Parts see all the time. Companies don’t keep a stock of spares or engineers onsite who can carry out the repairs. Therefore, interruptions in output are common.
Be Proactive
Being proactive means looking for ways to solve problems without being told to do so by a superior. If you’re the boss in your business, you are the superior, but sometimes you can still neglect to look for better ways of doing things.
If you can, try to proactively prevent disasters from happening. Ask yourself what could go wrong and then take steps to mitigate the likelihood of a failure.
Get People Moving
Exercise, like rest breaks, is another great way to encourage productivity in your workplace, particularly if people are parked in front of desks all day.
Getting people moving is actually easier than you might think. You don’t have to demand that they go to the gym during their lunch break. Instead, just take them for daily walking meetings in the early afternoon. This way, their bodies will remain alert, even after lunch.
Don’t Insist on Perfection
Perfection is both a friend and an enemy. It’s a friend in the sense that it satisfies customers. But it’s an enemy because achieving it takes enormous resources (and usually isn’t possible anyway).
Most companies settle for “good enough.” They know that no product they make can ever be perfect, so they simply content themselves with what they can do. So long as the product or service meets the customers’ basic needs, that’s okay. Then, if they have the skills and resources, they go above and beyond to gain more business in the future. Remember, if you’re struggling to be perfect, so too is every other company in your industry.
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