Prioritizing Business Activities for Maximum Efficiency

Business owners often walk into the office in the morning with a full plate. Your list of to-dos never shortens, but you can take some steps to make your use of time more efficient. Prioritize daily tasks to ensure you’re accomplishing revenue-driving activities every day. Over time, these prioritization skills can contribute to your bottom line and reduce stress. Use these tips to decide what to tackle first, what to outsource and how to keep up with your progress.

Identify the Fires

If it feels like a major portion of your time is spent putting out fires, take a step back to identify what’s starting them. When you spend every part of your day responding to emergencies, you will be drained and exhausted when the day is over. You have little energy left to analyze what’s really going on and to find better solutions.

Fires are a normal part of a healthy business. If your business is growing, you’ll be continually challenged to adapt. Growth means new customers, new challenges, and the opportunity to make new mistakes. You may need to hire new employees, and the added personalities may increase friction and alter production rates.

Set aside one afternoon a week to think critically about your fires. At first, just list the top five issues that present a regular challenge and think about what causes them. Some fires will go out on their own, while others will continue to smolder. When you give yourself space to analyze the cause from a distance, you’ll often find solutions you can’t see from the trenches.

Turn Over Responsibility

There’s only one of you, and some things just cannot be delegated. But some tasks can be handed over to employees. Monitor the things you do every day and start a list of tasks that could be done by someone else. Give your employees freedom and ownership by delegating some of the workload.

If you have an employee you trust who lacks some of the necessary skills, offer training. Employees are more content in positions in which their boss prioritizes their personal development. They’ll have more job satisfaction, and you’ll be free for other tasks that demand your attention.

Make the Most of Technology

Internet options often cut down on paperwork and make it easier to collaborate and streamline routine tasks. Here are just a few things every business owner can do to save time.

• E-sign documents – Keep the paper flow moving by signing important documents online.
• Collaborate in the Cloud – Upload documents to a shared file in the cloud. Save the time employees spend waiting around for document delivery by making it accessible anytime, anywhere.
• Automate workflow – Automation streamlines communication so conversations stay in the right place. It reduces costs and manual errors by checking for things such as late payments and goods not received. Most systems provide a bird’s-eye view of items in progress so you can see what’s going on at a glance.

Manage Energy

Time is important but so is your energy. Analyze the processes, relationships and situations that drain you. Find ways to minimize your contact with as many as you can. Identify when you are most productive and when your energy drops. Plan your day around periods when you are most effective.

Bookkeeping, accounting and payroll are some of the issues business owners deal with on a regular basis. Diversified Management Services, Inc., gives hard-working business owners individual attention to help manage their books. Contact us today for a free consultation.