Quite possibly the most important issue those in leadership and management positions in any size business obsesses over is productivity. How can I make the business more productive? How can we become more efficient? What can I do to increase productivity?
We all understand why productivity is so critical. By getting better results in a shorter amount of time, profits should grow. Like the saying goes, “time is money, my friend” and senior leaders know that to be all too true. So, what are ways to increase productivity?
There have been innumerable economical and psychological studies. Hundreds of books have been written on the topic of productivity alone. In fact, the business of selling productivity is probably a billion-dollar industry. The reality of productivity is this: everything that truly increases productivity has already been discovered and shared. Unless a time machine ends up being invented sometime in the not-so-distant future, we’ve already figured out the big secrets to productivity.
Getting “Lean”
Back in the early 90’s, James P. Womack wrote a book titled “The Machine that Changed the World,” which coined the term lean production, derived from the Toyota Production System. The car manufacturing conglomerate in Japan developed a system that minimized waste, while identifying added value, and reducing everything else that did not add value. Put simply, it used continuous analysis and process to get the most out of the least.
Simple, right?
Not so much. How can you possibly get the most out of the least? Nexecute has identified the top three key practices to get the most out of the least; to move from busy to productive.
The Three Secrets to Productivity in Business
- Become Super Focused – Focus on what’s important. Identify the determining factors that make a task a priority and then make sure you cross the most important task off your list first. This is called the Ivy Lee Method and we will dive deeper into this method in the following blog post.
- Do Productive Tasks, Not Busy Tasks – All too often, when there are a lot of things to do and the priorities aren’t clear, many people will either work on what’s easy or the biggest fire of the moment. When they’re not focusing on the things that will truly make a difference in the long run, how are they being efficient or effective? They aren’t, they’re only busy. This is the “go to” excuse for not being productive.
- Delegate Correctly – For many in leadership and management positions, it’s painful to delegate because they see it as relinquishing control. Too often they will do tasks that can easily be handed down because they enjoy them, or they don’t trust the people they can hand them off to. Either way, this creates a major roadblock in productivity.
In the following blog posts, Nexecute will expand on each of these three key ingredients to productivity. Not interested in waiting and want to increase your productivity asap? Call us at 888.378.8808 or contact us here.
