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Achieving increased the efficiency of workers or employees is one of the biggest challenges for any businessman or manager.
Employee efficiency refers to an employee's ability to make the best possible use of their resources to achieve their objectives. Efficiency depends on several factors such as motivation, skills, knowledge, experience, etc.
By getting your people to do the right things the right way, you can do more with the same resources. In other words, working efficiently will inevitably lead to a better business outcome with lower costs.
However, if you run a company, you know how difficult it can be to achieve high employee efficiency. The truth is that managing a team of people with different viewpoints and temperaments is impossible without clashes and miscommunication.
So, getting everyone on the same page by making your people work efficiently is no walk in the park.
Efficiency is not the same as effectiveness
When developing strategies to improve an organization, decision makers often discuss the importance of worker effectiveness and efficiency. Although these terms are often used interchangeably, they don't have the same meaning. Let's see the difference in the way each word is defined.
- Effectiveness: A person's degree of success in achieving a desired result.
- Efficiency: The ability to avoid wasting resources such as money or work to achieve the desired result.
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In the workplace, an efficient worker completes a task quickly and accurately. An effective worker achieves high-level results.
Effectiveness is the level of result of the actions of workers and management. Effectiveness is often evaluated through annual performance reviews that use key performance indicators to measure individual success.
If an employee doesn't make sure they work every day to prioritize important tasks, use the best resources, and minimize waste, they're not efficient, undermining their ability to be effective.
Therefore, it is essential to focus on maximum efficiency in the workplace for the organization as a whole to be effective in achieving its operational objectives.
The types of employee effectiveness that organizations seek to improve include:
- Labor productivity: Labor productivity is measured by the level of output per hour, per week, per month or per year.
- Operational Efficiency: The efficiency of key business processes, such as the delivery of a product or the conversion of raw materials into a sellable item.
- Process efficiency: Measure used to calibrate the cost and speed of each workflow process. For example, the analysis of the delivery of products to customers.
- Financial Efficiency: Financial efficiency matches employee effectiveness because it is a measure of the costs incurred versus the revenues generated. If workers aren't efficient at maximizing resources, the company can lose money.
Tips for increasing efficiency
1. Balancing quantity and quality
Quality efficiency refers to the number of products produced on a schedule. Efficiency measures the quality of the products produced.
Employees and managers who work efficiently will produce better results. For example, an effective HR recruiter will find more high-quality recruits with a lower turnover rate than an ineffective HR recruiter.
Companies must ensure that employees Balance quality and quantity. Efficiency isn't about doing as many tasks as possible. It's about performing the greatest number of tasks without losing quality.
Organizations must find a balance between the two. The appropriate allocation of resources, the use of performance indicators to monitor employee performance and the measurement of the quality of results will contribute to increased efficiency and, ultimately, effectiveness.
2. Delegate
Although this advice may seem like the most obvious, it's often the most difficult to put into practice. We understand: your company is your baby, so you want to have a direct participation in everything that happens in it. While there's nothing wrong with prioritizing quality (after all, it's what makes a company successful), reviewing every little detail yourself instead of delegating can waste everyone's precious time.
Instead, assign responsibilities to qualified employees and trust that they will perform the tasks well. This gives your employees the opportunity to gain leadership skills and experience that will ultimately benefit your company. I hire them for a reason, now give them a chance to prove they're right.
3. Focus on time-saving strategies
Efficient workers complete their projects in a shorter amount of time than inefficient workers. Applying time and project management strategies is essential to achieve an effective result. Some time management strategies include:
- Use to-do lists to prioritize projects.
- Focus on high-value projects instead of lower-value projects
- Minimize interruptions, chats, or other unnecessary communication
- Have resources to perform tasks
- Listen to employee feedback to determine where bottlenecks occur
- Use a time tracking device to analyze productivity and hold employees responsible for the time spent
- Create a policy that promotes and evaluates employee organization
- Ensure that HR regularly measures employee productivity
Companies can also take advantage of new technologies that save time and resources. These include time-tracking devices, business intelligence solutions such as dashboards, instant messaging systems, or other automated systems and software.
Focus on the most time-consuming tasks and then look for potential software solutions to increase productivity in the workplace.
4. Adapt tasks to skills
Knowing the skills and behavioral styles of your employees is essential to maximize efficiency. For example, an outgoing, creative, and innovatively thinking person is probably a great person to present ideas to clients. However, you may have problems if you are given a more rule-intensive and detail-oriented task.
Asking your employees to be great at everything isn't efficient. Instead, before assigning a task to an employee, ask yourself: is this the best person to perform this task? If not, find someone else whose skills and styles fit your needs.
5. Use good hiring practices and conduct performance reviews
Be sure to measure employee productivity regularly to maintain an efficient and effective workforce. Companies should conduct biannual or annual performance reviews that measure efficiency and effectiveness using specific key performance indicators. These indicators should be discussed with the worker on the first day of work.
Applying effective hiring practices is also critical to maintaining a quality workforce. The HR department must have parameters that force it to search for the best candidates with a high level of experience in other positions.
Contact references, use hiring tests and perform background checks to rule out candidates who may later result in a waste of time and resources for the company.
6. Communicate effectively
Every manager knows that communication is the key to a productive workforce. Technology has allowed us to get in touch with others with the push of a button (or should we say, touch a touchscreen). Naturally, this means that current communication methods are as efficient as possible, right? Not necessarily. A McKinsey study revealed that emails can take up nearly 28% of an employee's time. In fact, email was revealed to be the second most time-consuming activity for workers (after their specific tasks).
Instead of relying solely on email, try social media tools (such as Slack or Teams) designed for even faster team communication. You can also encourage your employees to occasionally adopt a more outdated form of contact... voice-to-voice communication. Having a quick meeting or phone call can resolve an issue that could have taken hours of emails back and forth.
- Block time only for emails. Tell your employees to select a time slot each day in which they will handle emails, and stick to it: make all email communications during the hour after lunch or the hour before leaving work.
- Emails must be short and accurate. Instruct your employees to be polite, accurate with their questions and direct with their answers when writing an email.
- Refrain from emailing your employees in the middle of the night. These late-night emails can stress your employees out, increase their anxiety levels, and lower their chances of performing well at work tomorrow morning.
7. Optimize meetings
Employees spend nearly 87 hours a month on various meetings, a loss of $37 billion a year, as many meetings turn into unproductive discussions.
- Instead, send an email. Email is a faster and more accurate means of communication, so instead of holding countless meetings, send a group email during the blocked hour dedicated to emails.
- Reduce the number of meetings per day/week/month. Hold only essential meetings.
- Reduce the number of meeting platforms. Some employees may be vital to your meetings, but others who aren't should not be required to always attend. Instead, the most productive solution is for them to continue with their usual line of work.
- Reduce the time spent on each meeting. 15-20 minutes per meeting are enough to cover the most important points.
8. Provide better training for employees
If there's a workforce full of ineffective employees, the problem starts at the top. A lack of training materials, a lack of available resources and information, and poor communication skills will lead to an inefficient and ineffective workforce.
Increase employee productivity by collaborating with the HR department to ensure that all policies, procedures, and training documents are up to date and available for instant access.
The use of a business intelligence knowledge management solution is also essential for informing and training workers. Provide an easily accessible system where users can answer their questions and find information to share with others.
This will improve communication between employees and make workers responsible for their mistakes. Make sure there is adequate training for any new business intelligence solution, to avoid incidents or communication errors later on.
Training and development help improve employees' knowledge and, by extension, their work performance.
- Use specialized software. Learning management programs, such as Lynda or TalentLMS, offer several useful courses that help employees expand their old knowledge and learn new ones. They also offer analytics and statistics, so you can track the progress of your employees.
- Provide hands-on training. This type of training allows employees to test the effectiveness of certain training tasks, giving them the opportunity to test them as they learn them.
- Allow employees to learn at their own pace. Rushing into complicated issues won't allow new knowledge to take hold, nor will it allow employees to test their new skills. It's best to give employees time to process their training or learn at their own pace.
9. Keep objectives clear and focused
You can't expect employees to be efficient if they don't have a specific goal to aim for. If a goal is not clearly defined and is truly attainable, employees will be less productive. Therefore, make sure that the tasks of the employees are as clear and specific as possible. Let them know exactly what you expect from them and tell them specifically what impact this assignment will have.
One way to do this is to make sure that your objectives are “SMART”, i.e., specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. Before assigning a task to an employee, ask yourself if it fits each of these requirements. If not, ask yourself how the task can be adjusted to help your workers stay focused and efficient.
10. Trim the excess
If possible, try not to give employees small, unnecessary tasks when they are focused on a larger goal. Take a look at the team's routine and see if there's anything you can cut back so that employees have more time to focus on higher-priority tasks.
For example, if employees ask them to write daily reports for their supervisors, but they don't usually have time to read them, consider cutting back on the word count requirement. To do something simply as a formality is to waste valuable time that could be used to meet the objectives that really help your company.
11. Give feedback to others
There's no hope of increasing employee efficiency if they don't know they're being inefficient in the first place. That's why performance reviews are essential: measure the performance of your employees and then hold individual meetings to let them know what they're excelling in and what areas they need to work in.
Increasing employee efficiency isn't just about what they can do best: part of the responsibility lies with you, too. But, like your employees, you're not a fortuneteller. So after reviewing your employees, ask them what you could do to help them improve. Perhaps they would like to receive a little more guidance on certain tasks, or they would prefer a little more space for creative freedom. Asking for feedback not only gives you clear and immediate ways to help your employees improve, but it also encourages a culture of open dialogue that will allow for continuous development over time.
Working methods and techniques to increase efficiency
1. Pareto's Law
The first essential tool for getting to the point quickly and easily is Pareto's Law. Or, if you're not familiar with the Pareto principle, you may have heard of the 80/20 law.
The rule is simple: approximately 80% of the effects are the product of 20% of the causes. For example, 80% of a company's turnover comes from 20% of its customers, or 80% of the results we achieve come from 20% of our work (only).
Born from the empirical observations of the economist Vilfredo Pareto and the quality expert Joseph Moses Juran, who disseminated this notion in 1954, the Pareto principle (or law) is an analysis tool that recommends separating the elements into two parts: vital problems and others considered to be more secondary.
In terms of management or strategic thinking, this tool can really help you analyze a situation and, of course, improve your professional effectiveness.
In the context of a business strategy, for example, the Pareto Law can be used as a relevant tool to guide actions that will be most effective. Or, when it comes to starting a company, it can help you draw up your business plan by getting to the point.
Here are some very different situations where Pareto law can apply:
- Strategy: define a new range of products, sales objectives, develop a strategic vision, choose the most important tasks, etc.
- Management: of stocks (to avoid shortages), of the company's strengths, etc.
- Human Resources: team management, competence management, development, etc.
- Organization: prioritization of the tasks to be performed, search for the causes of a problem, search for solutions, etc.
To do this correctly, it is necessary to identify the problem to be analyzed, gather all the useful data on the subject, classify them into different categories and take stock of the urgency or importance of the tasks to be carried out.
The graphic representation of the results obtained, presented in the form of a Pareto diagram, allows the manager to separate the tasks that consume the most time from those that consume the least. As a result, you may decide to modify your schedule, delegate tasks to your colleagues, or organize your day differently (why not start your day by tackling 20% of the essential tasks that produce 80% of your results?)
Pareto's Law is a powerful, easy-to-use analysis tool that helps you prioritize tasks. Thus, his ability to get to the bottom of the matter will allow him to gain professional efficiency and effectiveness.
2. The Deming Wheel
A quality management method, the famous “Deming wheel”, popularized by William Edwards Deming, is also known as the Shewhart cycle.
It is a mnemotechnics that allows us to easily identify the 4 steps to be followed in succession for better planning and organization of work.
It is also called PDCA method:
- Plan = plan (or prepare the work to be done); this part is developed in three stages: identifying the problem to be solved, looking for the causes (for example with the help of a Pareto diagram) and, finally, finding solutions based on a specification and a work schedule.
- Do = do; this is the development phase (often after a test phase), the implementation.
- Check = verify, verify; analyze the results and ensure the effectiveness of the applied solution or become aware of the difficulties that need to be understood.
- Act (or Adjust to avoid confusion with the Do stage) = take action; validate the change studied and apply it or restart the cycle in the first stage to redefine the process if necessary.
The concept of the wheel is that the loop is closed. Thus, we return to the first step until the final objective is reached. To avoid stagnation or regression, a new planning is started and the wheel moves forward a quarter of a turn with each new cycle. If there is a wedge under the wheel, it is to prevent it from coming back down (to prevent it from going backwards, thanks to regular audits, for example) and to accumulate the experience gained.
Nowadays, some specialists are changing the concept to that of OPDCA: adding an “O” for “Observe” at the beginning of the cycle, because it is necessary to observe well before establishing any plan of action.
3. The Smart Method
The method SMART it is essential to improve work efficiency: it consists of formulating objectives as clearly and simply as possible so that they have the best chance of being achieved.
These should be SMART, an acronym that takes the first letter of the following words: Specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound. SMART stands for “intelligent” and is presented as follows: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Programmed.
Specifically, SMART means that the objectives must be:
- Specific (or simple): for example, to develop sales of a range of products in a new segment. Specificity ensures that objectives are positive, clear and easy to understand. If a goal is too complex, divide it into several.
- Measurable: increase sales by 30%. Based on pre-defined quantitative or qualitative indicators, objectives must be clearly measurable.
- Achievable (or ambitious): for example, +15% in year 1, +12% in year 2 and +10% in year 3. The objectives must be established in stages and be shared by those who must achieve them; this is the basis of management (listening, convincing and signing a pact of objectives with colleagues).
- lifelike: for example, reinforcing commercial action on the ground through operational marketing and promotional offers. A goal is realistic if it is given the means to achieve its ambitions, in the sense of Relevant.
- Temporary (or limited in time): for example, three years, with objectives set at intermediate dates. Setting a goal over time means giving yourself a deadline for the final objective. Without a time limit, teams will be unable to measure and value their effort, which could lead to demotivation.
In companies, too many objectives are unclear: either they are not linked to performance indicators that allow them to be monitored, or they are not realistic or even attainable, or the budget that would allow them to be achieved is not controlled. The application of the SMART method avoids demotivating employees and reinforces their sense of control.
4. The Pomodoro Technique
Developed by Francesco Cirillo in the 80s, the Pomodoro technique is a time management solution. It consists of dividing the working day into timed work periods. In homage to the kitchen clock that its founder used to perfect his method, its name means “tomato” in Italian.
How do you plan the weather? This technique is simple to apply and very effective in terms of productivity.
Its basic structure is as follows:
- Choose a task to carry out.
- Set the Pomodoro timer (or phone alarm).
- Work for 25 minutes on a Pomodoro.
- When the timer rings, indicate that you have completed this work interval.
- After each session, take a short break (5 minutes).
- After the fourth session, take a longer break (15-30 minutes).
- Restart the timer and repeat the process.
At first you'll get used to working in 25-minute intervals and you'll develop your ability to concentrate. By increasing these intervals over time, you will end up cycling for 60 to 90 minutes. But don't forget to take breaks, and don't sit still for long, move from time to time!
At a time when offices are often organized in open spaces, the Pomodoro technique can help you improve your workspace and truly motivate your teams by helping them to stay focused. You can even imagine group Pomodoros to collectively improve your time management!
Although the Pomodoro technique isn't for everyone, it's a valuable tool for effectively achieving small goals. In practical terms, in your work, try to assign 25-minute blocks to the most important tasks first thing in the morning to make sure you're managing your priorities well. Or, set up one Pomodoro session a week and block it in your schedule.
There are also applications that allow you to keep track of reports, indicators and dashboards, or limit the use of social networks or block phone calls, for example. If you focus on managing your time, you'll maximize your effectiveness at work.
5. GTD method
El GTD method It is one of the most popular work organization techniques: if you feel overwhelmed, paralyzed by all the tasks you have to do and you don't know where to start, clear your mind. Download your thoughts, projects, or ideas and organize them. This way you can process them more efficiently and help you move forward.
GTD stands for”Getting Things Done”. Invented by David Allen, this method saves time on a daily basis, since it allows us to better capture our work, organize it and determine what needs your attention. This time management aims to increase your productivity by improving your workflow.
This method works as follows:
Step 1: the Inbox; captures all the things that need to be done and thus takes the pressure off your mind.
Step 2: Determine the nature of what was received to know what to do with it. Is it “actionable” (do you know what actions to take to do it) or not? If so, is it possible to act immediately or in stages?
A task that is not feasible should be discarded if it is not relevant or set aside in the hope of returning to it later, when the idea has matured.
An actionable task must be addressed:
- Immediately, if it takes less than 2 minutes.
- Delegate, if you're not the right person to do it.
- Or include it in your “to do” list according to a defined schedule.
By following this path, you will be able to effectively deal with all the things you need to do.
To get the most out of the GTD method, here are 5 pillars you should keep in mind:
Pick up: Move what you have in mind to the inbox to download it. This alleviates stress and confusion.
Process: making things “actionable” to work efficiently.
organise: orchestrate the sequence of events by category and priority and establish an action plan.
Review: Monitoring is essential to monitor the progress of tasks and adjust the organization if necessary.
Act: Now is the time to get to work and tackle each task one by one and move forward.
To optimize your effectiveness at work, do not hesitate to rely on a method that has proven its effectiveness, without profoundly modifying your daily functioning.
6. Batch Grouping (Batching)
Clustering is the art of grouping similar tasks together to increase productivity. Unlike multitasking, which involves performing several tasks at the same time, batching makes it possible to gain efficiency.
For example, instead of shipping your customers' orders as they arrive, you group them together and ship them all at the same time.
Another example: you give yourself one hour a day (and only one) to respond to comments left by Internet users on your social networks instead of reacting as soon as a new message appears. The same goes for emails.
Since dosing is extremely effective in saving time and being more productive, it should be able to be organized more easily and calmly. This has three advantages:
- Planning: By better managing your daily work schedule, you are more efficient and less stressed.
- Time savings: Grouping activities reduces the time needed to start a task.
- Free your mind: Dividing into lots reduces your mental burden.
Batching requires that you are fully focused on a given activity. You can take breaks, but avoid distractions as much as possible. Depending on the tasks to be performed, “batches” can be carried out once a day, once a week or once a month. It is you who decide the nature of the tasks, their urgency and their importance. For greater work efficiency, it is advisable to draw up the next day's schedule each night (or the next week's schedule each week).
Digital tools
Ideal tool for managing your projects and distributing them to your team visually. At a glance, you can see which tasks are in progress, which are urgent, and which are finished, depending on the deadlines. Planning your time and that of your team is essential for the success of your projects: by helping you to delegate, much more than a to-do list, monday.com will allow you to be more efficient at work.
Todoist is “the best to-do list ever” (according to The Verge https://www.theverge.com) for efficiently planning and organizing work by having employees collaborate on projects of all sizes.
On a daily basis, this application gives you a strategic view of everything you have to do. The free version is already very useful: quick creation of task lists and a navigation bar with direct access to today's tasks and those of the next 7 days. With a clean design, Todoist is the ideal tool for managing the tasks you have to do.
Trello, a collaboration tool designed to organize tasks, has established itself as one of the main project management tools. As a web application, Trello has a lot of features and the free version of the tool is convenient and powerful. Used by a large number of companies, it is ideal for managing their tasks and planning their time. Your goal is to check off tasks and reduce your to-do list.
This is the Google tool par excellence: free and very easy to use, Google Keep is easy to use on a computer, mobile phone or tablet, and syncs quickly and efficiently across all your devices. This note-taking application offers a post-it note interface that allows you to organize your personal tasks intuitively and thus gain productivity.
Formerly known as Wunderlist, Microsoft To Do is the new completely free tool that helps you focus on your personal and professional activities.
Create your own tasks or import them from Outlook with perfect synchronization. You can then customize your lists, share them, and assign tasks to your colleagues. Don't forget to use smart, personalized suggestions, such as color coding or deadline reminders.
With its clean and efficient interface, Any.do is a web-based tool for managing tasks and smart to-do lists.
Since managing your work schedule is essential, Any.do allows you to easily sort all your to-do lists. Make your team collaborate by adding notes or even PDFs, videos, audio recordings, photos, etc. With Any.do, productivity becomes an addiction
EasyNote is a 100% free task management software. It's also a project management tool thanks to collaborative work and a file storage capacity of up to 1 GB. Easynote is easy to use and requires no special technical knowledge.
In short, it's not easy to control working time. But, as you can see, there are solutions to help you keep up, be more efficient and always be more productive. Whatever the method, choose the one you consider most effective in reducing stress and improving the quality of your work. Knowing how to manage your time, plan and organize your day in the best possible way are the keys to your professional fulfillment.
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