Productivity First 😎: Your Superpower In A Challenging Economic Environment

03 Aug Productivity First 😎: Your Superpower In A Challenging Economic Environment

It is no secret that the current economy is in a slow down or slowing down. The slowdown is affecting businesses of all sizes and in all industries. Companies are either laying off people or putting on hiring freezes.

One way to combat the effects of the slowdown is to focus on productivity gains. By improving productivity, your business can become more efficient and profitable.

This blog post will discuss ways to enhance the productivity of your business and how to make the most of your resources.

1. Understand What Constitutes Productivity in Your Business.

The first step in improving productivity in your business is clearly understanding what that means for your business. It means that you have a good understanding of what your clients want and transparent processes for fulfilling their needs.

The critical thing to watch out for here is ensuring that the processes are what happens in reality, not written procedures that are not followed.

2. Identify areas where productivity can be improved in your business.

Now that you have a clear understanding of your customer requirements and processes, the next step is to take a close look at each process to identify opportunities for improvement.

In general, there is always room for improvement, so this is a habit you should adopt in your business – continuous improvement.

There are two ways to approach this – First is by examining your processes and steps to identify where things can be done faster or waste eliminated. It is an internal exercise where you are simply trying to get better than you have done before.

The 2nd approach is to benchmark your activities against your competitors or best in class in your industry. Whilst the first approach is about better than what you have done, this is about learning from external sources.

In some cases, simply streamlining existing processes can make a big difference. In other cases, adopting new techniques or technologies may be necessary.

Whatever the case, you need to be Bold and courageous in your efforts to improve productivity. By making even small changes, it is possible to achieve significant results.

3. Implement productivity-enhancing techniques in those areas 

The third step is where things often derail for many companies, in my experience. The work has been done to identify opportunities for productivity improvement; however, most don’t implement.

To give yourself a good chance to execute, consider the following steps.

• Rank the potential improvements in order of importance to the business using a combination of ease of implementation and size of benefits to the company.

• Create a plan to implement the improvements, including identifying the required resources.

• Schedule the improvements and execute

4. Measure the results of your efforts and make necessary adjustments

The great Peter Drucker once said, “What gets measured gets managed.” In other words, if you want to improve something, you must measure it first.

So the 4th step is to track the results you are getting from your improvement activities. Are you getting desired improvements? If not, what do you need to change?

Continual measurement will lead to continuous improvements in your business.

So embrace the culture of measuring the results of your efforts. It’s the only way to ensure that you’re making progress.

5. Celebrate your productivity gains!

Productivity gains should be celebrated! They are a testament to our hard work and dedication and help create a culture of excellence.

By recognizing our efforts, we can inspire others to achieve even more. And when we celebrate our successes, we instil a sense of pride in ourselves and our organization. Productivity gains are a cause for celebration – let’s recognize them!

Tough economic times call for tough, courageous decisions.

As a business owner, improving productivity should be at the top of your list. It will not be easy, but it is possible with the right attitude and strategic planning. We hope you feel inspired to take action after reading this article.

If you want more information on improving productivity in your business, book a free strategy call with me today. I would love to help you grow and succeed during these challenging times.