Improve your workday productivity with simple and easy-to-follow techniques that we’ve learned during the last 8 years of our digital agency. We learned and became more efficient every year. I want to share with you eleven simple techniques that will allow you to streamline your employees’ work and time in person and save time where needed.
Techniques To Improve Workday Productivity
1. Working With Two Screens
For years we worked with one screen, and just our developer worked with two screens. Last year we added a screen for each of us so that we all work with two screens. We felt a change immediately from that day on. Each screen has a different browser with other tabs open, and switching between websites (email, Trello, Google Drive, etc.) is much faster and more efficient. Similarly, if your team is working from home and you wish to track their hours, you would want software with the clock in and out of a system so that you can have specific and exact recordings.
If, for example, you want to give a customer comments about his site, the website will be open on one screen, and the email will be available on the other screen. Just this alone shortens a lot of processes significantly, and you can do the calculation alone when it comes to dozens or hundreds of such interactions a day.
2. Standup
No, I’m not talking about a comedy show to improve productivity.
The concept of “standup” is taken from the world of startups. Start-up teams start the morning with a review of each person’s tasks status for the day. The evaluation is often done standing (hence standup), but it is not mandatory.
This process, which is supposed to take something like 5-10 minutes every morning, puts the employees (and you) into a daily routine and allows you to create an intelligent set of priorities on the one hand and focus on the critical tasks on the other hand.
3. Work With Software Tasks
Don’t rely on just remembering things by heart. All your tasks should be written down. Many of us collect all the jobs and send out emails with functions. We have done this for a long time, but working with an external To-Do List and external project management software (such as Trello, which we work with) will improve your efficiency and helping productivity.
Once there is too much ‘in your head,’ or your email is flooded with tasks, you can not prioritize correctly, you cannot maintain focus and mobility, and you get overwhelmed and miss a few things.
With a task management system, as employers, you can ensure what tasks are open to each person, what tasks are being handled, what tasks are waiting for a third party, and which tasks have already been addressed.
4. Daily Summary Techniques To Improve Workday Productivity
Like Section 2 (Standup), this technique also takes a few minutes to ensure your employees use the workday properly.
Five to ten minutes before each end of the day, each employee can send you (or the head of staff/his section) an email with everything he has done that day. The email should not be a 50-line and lengthy one, but a concise email that summarizes in short points all tasks performed and tasks or comments that need your attention.
If you apply the ‘Standup’ correctly, a ‘Daily Summary’ technique is not always necessary.
5. Start With The Heavy Tasks In The Morning
Have you reached the office? Did you drink coffee? This is the best time to go through your heavy tasks and move forward with them. If you postpone the severe charges to the end of the day, one of two things will happen: Either you will wait for them until the next day, or you will be tired and not focused and will not perform them efficiently enough.
If there is a task that you must do and you are constantly postponing and postponing, reserve time for it on the joint schedule so that everyone will know not to bother you during the time which you budgeted for.
6. Diversify The Tasks For Productivity
It’s not always possible, but try to give your employees tasks not only within the limit they are in. The moment someone does the same thing of the same type all day, he backslides and doesn’t learn new things daily for the duration of his work. For Example: finding new web tools in the field, writing an article for a blog, finding collaborations, et cetera.
7. Usage Of Appropriate Software And Tools
Using tools (free/paid) can save you valuable time.
Let’s take three simple examples that you seem to be already implementing:
- You can issue invoices with an account book and mail them to each customer, and you can use a system of invoices on the Internet and do everything online and in a much faster and easier way.
- You can check Google locations by searching manually in the Incognito window for every customer you promote organically, and you can work with automatic placement software.
- Do you run campaigns that help customers on Facebook? You can log in with each customer’s email and password separately or work with the Business Manager and get permission to manage each customer’s ads in one place.
I’ve mentioned three pretty trivial examples, but you can implement this on many other daily actions and tasks, and tools have been developed already to shorten processes.
8. Build Automated Processes For Productivity at Workday
The more automatic the processes, there will be fewer questions and fewer dark matters. For example, what happens when you close a deal with a new customer? Build a process that will be clear to everyone interested in it. Moreover, the salesperson updates the CRM. So, sends an email with transaction details to the manager. The relevant information to the client’s portfolio manager in your company. So, the customer portfolio manager will open a new project in the software he works with. The account manager will contact the customer regarding the payment and issue an invoice, et cetera.
In addition, quite a few systems can streamline processes in today’s age and create automated interfaces.
9. Get Rid Of Customers And People Who Are Bothersome And Not Worth Your Time
Do you have customers who call you daily, and the situation isn’t improving? Sometimes giving up a customer can only benefit you. This point is essential and relevant to customers and providers who talk more than they work or love to waste your time on a new project or make a payment. That is also a sign that it’s time to find another provider.
10. Only Those Who Have To Be In A Meeting Should Be In A Meeting
Have a meeting with an existing/new customer? You do not have to bring the entire department to the forum. In addition, the same goes for board meetings. Please keep it to a high level of efficiency. Only those who have to be present at the conference will be present if an employee from the meeting needs your help (or the help of another team member) for a specific part of the meeting. So, it is possible and will be much more effective for all sides.
11. Make The Most Of Travel Time Techniques To Improve Workday Productivity
Do you work in a physical office? A good part of your day seems “wasted” on the road. Whether by train, bus or car, do not treat this time as dead time. Listen to a podcast, and enrich your knowledge. Finally, take care of the things you can deal with on the phone. If you are driving, don’t text or anything like that.
