Go ahead and ask any business owner who has recently launched his/her startup about the work ethic of the company and he or she will probably say “whatever it takes to get things done”.
And this almost never comes as a surprised when the staffing up part is not included in the business plans for a couple of months or years and your team is juggling with several job titles’ worth of responsibilities.
However, to concentrate solely on the task at hand with little or no thought regarding the process behind it is a shortsighted move that has an impact over the time management and could potentially affect the efficiency levels and productivity of your employees and the future profit of your company.
So here are three factors you should probably keep in mind when starting new projects and shaping process:
1. Choose one option.
Given the fact that, with a simple Google search, you can find hundreds and hundreds of software tools and websites, you can easily be tempted to try a lot of different services at once, only to discard them when the next product will hit the market.
You might even consider: what is the harm in trying services that offer a free trial? Still, when you take into account all the time and energy your employees will waste with uploading current files and familiarizing with tool after tool, you’ll see that it’s pretty much a waste of time and resources.
All this time could easily add up to hours of non-billable work and lost dollars in future sales, if information is not accurate and easily accessible. For example, sales teams tend to rely on past purchases and wasting time trying to find a trace of relevant information could translate into losing a potential client. So why not stick to only one option, save up time and money without the risk of losing potential customers?
2. Make sure to standardize things.
After picking one service or a bunch of services that are best for your business, ensure that you standardize it in all the relevant aspects. Has it ever happened to you to work on a thorough PowerPoint only to see one of your co-workers working exclusively in Keynote? Avoid this type of problems and make sure that everyone commits to use one program, template or style guide.
3. Time management perfection.
Last but not least, you need to map out the user flow for every task. While it may not seem productive at first, when you are doing your best to get products out the door as fast as possible, this is your best bet.
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Plus the induction process for new employees will be shorter and smoother, so you will see that the initial time investment will worth the while.
Furthermore, think of the future where projects will no longer have to be done by a single person. And despite the fact that your company possesses the tools to increase the efficiency levels of the task execution, do these services and the actions add to a user-friendly ecosystem?
You should probably ask yourself if each step of the required actions makes sense or if you are jumping from one program to another just to accomplish a task.
You should never stop exploring the road of least resistance and also have an open dialogue about the matter. When it’s all said and done, every entrepreneur has a unique way of approaching a certain tasks. You have to bear in mind that what works for you may not work for others. And the goal of every company and employees should be to be efficient.
New services and tools are constantly introduced on the market so, to some extent, it may make sense to change some already existing procedures in place. By following the aforementioned practices, you are able to easily create and improve processes whether your company is in the first few stages of its launch or in the 20th year.
