The article refers to a 2006 study where participants who multi-tasked, and as a result, took up to 30 percent longer and made twice as many errors as those who completed the same tasks in sequence.  This is because our brains can’t successfully tell us to perform two actions concurrently. When we switch tasks, our brains must cognitively turn off from the old task, and then turn on  for the new one.  This takes time. Our brains are thus required to set up to do the task at hand  much like we set up a machine in a factory.   Set up time is just like down time – the end result is reduced output.  Now imagine continually switching tasks and all the time it takes to set up between them.  The first tip how to improve productivity is to make sure tasks are done sequentially, not concurrently.

How to Improve Productivity – Focus

Focusing on the task at hand is a key component when it comes to how to improve productivity.  It requires a discipline to eliminate all distractions and a desire to stay concentrated on the activity that needs to be done.  For small business owners this can be a great challenge with so many issues and problems to address and a reality that the business owner is more often than not, the prime resource to address them.  A tip how to improve productivity is to divide your day into chunks, or boxes of time that are reserved for certain activities.  This is called time boxing.  By time boxing, you not only develop a habit but you also educate those around you of your routine.  For example, if your email and voice mail advise those trying to reach you that you will be returning your calls between 3 and 5 pm, then they won’t try to reach you by other means if you don’t answer or call them back right away.

How to Improve Productivity – Filter

A particular challenge how to improve productivity is to manage the volume of information we are exposed to.  Small business owners need to be able to filter information so that the most important or urgent is easily discernible from all the rest.  Email filters work extremely well in this regard and should be used all the time.   Some small business owners may wish to delegate the management of their email to an employee or virtual assistant as well.  The key here is to establish the work rules and then adjust them until the desired level of filtering is reached.  This can be particularly effective when combined with delegating responsibility to handle some of the tasks or issues that arise.

How to Improve Productivity – Forget

This leads into the last component we will discuss on how to improve productivity, which is probably the most important, and at the same time, the most difficult for solo-preneurs.  That is that you have to be able to let go.  Delegating will undoubtedly increase your productivity but you have to accept to relinquish some control.  This is a hard habit to develop if you like being in the know all the time and want to have a say in every single decision.  As business picks up, it becomes harder and harder to do and the “boss” becomes the bottleneck.  It is best to develop the habit of delegating early on.  The other aspect of this is obviously to make sure you put your business aside when you have to.  Many solo-preneurs decide to go into business for themselves because thay desire to have more freedom, only to discover that they are “working” all the time.  This is actually counterproductive.  Turning off from work actually helps recharge, change perspective, and make people more productive when they turn back on.  So get in the habit of doing physical activity during your day, or reading a novel, or playing with your kids after dinner instead of reading emails.  You will actially get more done anyway…

More resources on how to improve productivity

If you found this article useful, we invite you to view the FREE recording of our Get More Done mini-class at this link.  It is an hour and twenty minutes full of tips and strategies to teach you how to improve productivity.

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this report was designed specifically for Travel Agents and answers this vitally important question to business longevity, because it is much more profitable to cater to repeat customers than to continuously attract and sell to new ones.

this FREE report is a Must Read for all Travel Agents as it will reveal the Secrets to Get Them Coming Back!

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i have been going to the same coffee shop since they’ve opened about 18 months ago. i keep going back to that same coffee shop because the staff is friendly and extremely efficient. they even recognize their regular clients and validate what is being ordered before the customer orders it. that is a personal touch you don’t find in many places and it really makes you happy to be giving them your business.

okay, you say, but what does that have to do with efficiency? well, i pretty much always order the same thing and they know it, because they know me. when they see me in line (before i get to the counter to order), they have already taken my order and pretty much have it ready when it comes my turn. i basically don’t have to wait at all for my order other than the time i wait for my turn to pay Karmaker. now that is efficient! and that is why i keep going back…curiously, i don’t think i’m the only one that equates efficiency with good customer service as we certainly can attest that there is no shortage of coffee shops but some are much busier than others. so the next time you order a coffee from your favourite establishment, ask yourself if their service is efficient. my guess is that you will probably see that it is.

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the report illustrates that best-in-class performers were able to generate savings of more than $5 million dollars in the first two years of improvement initiatives. while this seems impressive, it is probably not representative of the benefits for small and medium-sized companies (SME) so these additional indicators are much more powerful in this context; top performers increased profit margins by 19%, reduced cycle times by 24%, and improved quality by 43% in the first two years. for a SME, this has huge ramifications.

one of the greatest challenges faced by SMEs is to manage growth effectively; how do you maintain efficiency while your business is growing? how do you keep the same level of quality while you hire new employees? how do you control your costs? how do you keep yourself from getting spread too thin? now imagine if you worked more on the essential stuff rather than non-value added. imagine if you made fewer errors and had less rework. imagine if you were able to deliver to your customer faster. all of a sudden, you are increasing your profit, increasing your capacity and gaining a competitive advantage. that is what these figures mean to a small business.

there are also common characteristics of these best-in-class performers; virtually all of them have made a commitment to ingraining this culture in their companies and a large proportion (81%) have standardized their improvement methodologies throughout the company. in addition, it has been determined that to be successful using these operational excellence approaches, companies must adopt the philosophies, methods and tools, organize and porperly oversee the improvement initiatives, and measure the results.

so how does a small business go about implementing such a program? while it is likely not feasible to dedicate full time resources such as many larger companies do, SMEs have the advantage of easily reaching all employees and adopting a continuous improvement culture more rapidly than larger companies can. so the sooner a business adopts the tools and techniques, the more ingrained they will become in the way things are done, and the easier it will be to manage growth afterward. in addition, the initial investment for a SME to embark on the continuous improvement journey is much smaller that it will be for larger companies. as a matter of fact, SMEs can probably get by initially just by training key personnel in the tools and techniques with the expectation that these will subsequently be applied in the day-to-day running of the business. consequently, a small investment in training (and perhaps coaching) will likely result in significant long-term payoff so it behooves SME businesses to ensure they develop this competitive advantage and position themselves to become best-in-class performers.

if you would like to know more about using these techniques in your business visit our learning category for recommended elearning courses to get you started. on the other hand, if you are interested in coaching, please contact us and it will will be our pleasure tol find you the right coach to suit your needs.

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