Almost without exception, the goal of most businesses is to operate at the greatest levels of efficiency – to offer the best products or services with the least possible outlay without sacrificing quality or customer/employee satisfaction.
While achieving this Holy Grail of commerce may at times seem like an impossible task, there are still several tools at the disposal of firms to work towards greater operating productivity. No matter the size of your firm, most of these principles can be applied to every business in every sector and of all types.
If you’re struggling to find ways to identify and isolate potential financial and resources sinkholes in your firm, read on for some tried and tested tips used by the world’s most efficient companies.
Rule 101: recognize your employees are your company’s greatest asset
Speak to any seasoned CEO and ask them what they consider to be their company’s greatest asset and pretty much across the board, you’ll get the same answer – the employees. Put simply, a firm cannot operate to any degree of professionalism or efficiency without contented, motivated employees.
In most cases, good management is the key to maintaining a satisfied workforce and most people realize company culture starts from the top and then filters down. The value of quality, inspiring leadership cannot be underestimated. Indeed, a recent study found that almost half of all employees quitting a job cited their reason as being bad management while a further two-thirds stated they believed their manager lacked managerial skills.
To get the best from your team, you should consider instigating a policy of human capital planning across your workforce – from the boardroom to the shop floor – to fully capitalize on this, your greatest asset.
Foster a culture of communication
Good communication is a fundamental building block of any relationship, whether that be among friends, partners, family, or at work. Without open channels of communication, associations can soon fester, and resentments build.
Again, good communication and openness among colleagues should come from the top so you should take time to get to know your staff, listen to their grievances and try to interpret their ideas. More often than not, you’ll find those doing the work have a far greater understanding of things you could do to refine processes and improve working conditions.
Embrace tech and automation
There’s little doubting the commercial shift-change that’s currently underway in commerce and with today’s modern tech, automation is starting to revolutionize how and where companies can operate. Many industry experts suggest the digitization of business is heralding a fourth industrial revolution (also often referred to as Industry 4.0). If you want your firm to stay ahead of the game and remain competitive, there’s no time like the present to start embracing tech and integrating automation wherever and whenever possible. Modern Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are more than capable of performing many of the time-consuming, repetitive tasks that often become a significant drain on time, money, and resources in business. If you haven’t already, you should take a step back to get an overhead view of how your firm currently operates to allow you to isolate potential and existing bottlenecks in your operations. Chances are high that these problem areas could very easily be solved by introducing tech.
