Business owners are continually seeking ways to improve their organisation’s profitability. As a business grows, inefficiencies may emerge organically (and largely unnoticed) that can reduce profits, so it’s imperative that managers engage with their team regularly to identify how operational weaknesses can be addressed – or even eradicated - to save time and money.
As Peter Drucker, the Austrian-American management consultant said, ‘There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.’
Expanding businesses can benefit from ‘economies of scale'; as they grow, they gain cost advantages as a result of increased production. However, to really capitalise, business leaders must develop an ongoing strategy to systematically identify and change inefficient practices at their root. In this short guide, we will explore ways to improve business efficiency.
Accept Only The Highest Standards
By focusing on quality first and foremost in all business processes, you can significantly improve business efficiency and reduce wasted time and money. Processes should be analysed and redesigned so that it is harder for employees to make mistakes. Your quality control procedures should also be scrutinised and reinforced if necessary, not only to reduce waste but also to protect customers (and your company reputation) from the consequences of poor standards.
Make People Your Priority
The people in your organisation are responsible for driving its success, so an efficiency review should focus on measuring their performance and impact on business processes. The steps to improving business efficiency that you can take, including:
- Challenge your management team to monitor efficiency against Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to identify ways to achieve improvements.
- Upskill employees and redefine their responsibilities so that they have clear roles which eliminate duplication of work.
- Support staff to become multi-skilled to achieve cost efficiencies and meet deadlines more quickly, even when team members are absent from work.
- Every employee has a role to play in building and sustaining a value-focused efficiency culture. Recognise and reward the contributions of employees towards improving efficiency and making the company money – especially among those not directly involved in sales and management.
Eradicate Waste
When a business is profitable, it’s easy to be tempted to stick with tried-and-tested ways of operating – ‘if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it’. However, if systems and processes cease to be efficient, costs will spiral and profits will ultimately suffer. Waste has many disguises in business, including excess stock, a top-heavy management structure, inefficient use of energy, poorly targeted marketing materials, or overlapping and poorly defined roles resulting in multiple staff carrying out the same work.
Management teams should conduct a periodic root and branch review of planning, processes, and procurement, to identify and improve areas where time and money is needlessly wasted, thereby reducing overheads and streamlining key operations.
Implement Standard Operating Procedures
Standard operating procedures (SOPs) are instructions for how a particular task or role should be completed, so that there is uniformity across your organisation and staff observe the same guidance to achieve greater consistency. Presented either as a written document, a graphical illustration, or a video, an SOP also helps to improve efficiency when a new employee joins your company, minimising the time required for training and ensuring that there is little disruption during the changeover.
Seek An Alternative Viewpoint
A second opinion is often an invaluable way to gain an insight into the workings of your business. An external expert, such as an independent Operations Director, who arrives without preconceptions and is free from personal bias, can be highly beneficial, as he or she can identify inefficiencies that your in-house management team and stakeholders are oblivious to. Business efficiency solutions can only be devised if you understand where improvements are required, so a fresh pair of eyes can be invaluable in identifying the weaknesses in your operation, as well as its strengths.
Contact Us For Professional Management Expertise
Improving your business’s management practices ensures that inefficiencies are rooted out and eliminated, so no money is wasted on unnecessary or ineffective procedures.
At Secantor, our experienced executives can help your business to improve its efficiency, thereby increasing profits and protecting it against the challenges of the uncertain market.
To find out more about our services, please get in touch today.
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