As a business owner, you are no doubt familiar with the feeling of being overwhelmed by tasks, schedules, and expectations. You have to make sure your team is on track, make sure your clients are happy, and make sure the books are balanced. With all the things you have to juggle, it’s easy for productivity to slip away from you. Keep reading for tips that will help you maximize efficiency in your workday so that you can stay on top of everything.

Utilize technology

Let technology work for you and do the things that take up too much of your time or the things that you just simply don’t want to do. Technology is great for helping with general scheduling and task management. There are also numerous websites and apps that will make your business more efficient. We’ve outlined three important areas where technology can play a helpful role.

Task Management

There are dozens of online tools available that have been designed to assist with management and productivity. You will need to sift through your options to find the one that works best for your business and your company dynamic.

Asana effectively organizes workflows. Content that is updated, added or commented on is automatically saved and available to view. This framework helps everyone involved have quick accessibility to any new project changes. Monday has an innovative dashboard that is easy for anyone to understand and keep track. Team members report the progress of their projects as they work which helps keep the lines of communication open and transparent. Basecamp can meet your needs for full-scale remote, collaborative work. This is a good resource when you have many moving parts for major collaborative projects.

Don’t overcomplicate the very thing that is supposed to make your life easier. You only need one designated online management tool. Each of these companies offers slightly different ways of providing the same resource. Do your research to make an informed decision about which one to choose.

Collaboration

Meetings are an extremely important component of running and managing a successful business. The downside of having a schedule full of meetings is that your schedule is full of meetings! Websites and apps that allow you to collaborate with important members of your team can save you the effort of scheduling a meeting about everything. What to look for in an online collaboration platform is a place that allows everyone to have access to the same information, the ability to add notes and upload new documents to a shared and secure location, and a checklist feature where all members of the project can see the progress of completion for every assignment.  

Editing

Don’t forget about professionalism when keeping up with productivity. Human error happens, and small mistakes in grammar or poor fact checking can reflect poorly on the image of your brand. Grammarly is a great writing companion to download to your devices that will make sure you are communicating a professional message whether you are drafting up an email or uploading a blog post. 

Technology helps us work smarter and not harder. Smart implementation of technology to increase productivity will be a game changer for your business and allow you to get significantly more accomplished in less time.  

Learn to delegate

Nothing can stand in the way of your success more than drowning in work. Get as much work done as you possibly can, and then delegate as much work as you can. This ensures that the workload is being spread out so no one person has to carry the majority of the load. Sometimes you need to handle a project on your own. In these instances, try to find other projects that can be successfully completed under the supervision of someone else. When you delegate, do your best not to micromanage. You have chosen the people who make up your team for a reason, so you should be able to trust them with the tasks assigned. If you discover that you aren’t confident in delegating to specific people, then it may be time to consider finding more suitable help to create a more effective team.  

Putting forth a small amount of time for delegation has a great amount of pay off in the end so don’t avoid it. You will be amazed at the amount of time you save when you don’t have to worry about keeping all the balls up in the air by yourself.

Schedule time for reflection and planning

As business picks up, your calendar may start to become overwhelming with back to back meetings, planning, and day to day management.  Multiple meetings in a day are sometimes unavoidable, but it is crucial to schedule time for reflection and planning. Add 15-30 minutes of buffer time to the beginning and end of each meeting. Mark your calendar as busy during the buffer times. Use this time to plan for your next meeting or execute action items from the previous meeting. If you fail to schedule this time, you may find yourself completely overwhelmed with a mounting workload that is extremely difficult to manage. Designating this time to catch up, plan, and reflect will prove to be a life saver, especially during periods of high activity. 

Along with making buffer time to get task items completed you need to remember to give yourself breaks and rewards. It is good to create a business culture that values healthy balances for work and enjoyment. Implementing this looks different for every business. 

If your company has ebbs and flows of extreme busyness followed by non-busy periods, consider planning fun and stress-relieving staff development events that everyone can look forward to after the hard work is accomplished. There are numerous ways to boost morale for yourself and your team, just make sure that you are intentional about making sure breaks and rewards get the attention they need.

Pro Tip: Create a system. Don’t jump into a project without having a trusted framework. You don’t have to know every process in your business, but knowing what systems you use and what processes work for your business will help you perform at your best.

Maximizing your productivity is the best way to ensure your business is able to remain successful in different periods and seasons. Legalzing wants to work with you to manage and grow your business as efficiently as possible. Schedule a free discovery call today so that we can start optimizing your productivity, and help you grow.