How To Boost Productivity at Work

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You may not be thrilled with the way you manage time in your business life. On the other hand, you may not want to invest precious money, energy, thought and – yep, even time – into finding a whole new time management system. If you’d just like to get more done in your business day, follow the 5 easy steps below.   Streamline Your Work Tasks And Be More Productive

Step 1: List Your Work Tasks

Jot down all the things you generally do in your work day. This list will of course vary depending on the work you do, but it may include items like:

  • Writing proposals
  • Managing people
  • Liaising with other departments
  • Financial analysis
  • Preparing reports
  • Research
  • Creating presentations
  • Typing
  • Organising
  • Making decisions
  • Support
  • Fielding calls
  • Managing the boss
  • Managing clients
  • Creating products
  • Managing suppliers
  • Customer service
  • Answering emails

Step 2: Simplify or Eliminate

Go through your list for anything you can cut down, streamline or cross right off the list. For example:

  • Can you stop replying to emails that don’t really need a response?
  • Instead of answering calls as they come in, could you return messages all at once?
  • If you write a lot of proposals or presentations, could you create a template to save time on the repetitive work?
  • If you answer emails with common questions, could you create an FAQ?
  • If you manage staff, could you schedule weekly, bi-weekly or daily meetings with each person to address all their concerns at once?

Step 3: Delegate

Next, look for items you can delegate to someone else in the company. For example:

  • Could you train a junior staff member to draft reports, proposals, or presentations – which you could then edit and polish?
  • Are you doing tasks that could be handled more effectively by another person or department?

Step 4: Outsource

Now check for tasks you can outsource or sub-contract to someone outside the company. For example:

  • Would specialist companies save time and money in areas like customer service or research?

Step 5: Batch

Finally, see which of the remaining tasks can be batched together for greater time efficiency and mental effectiveness. For example:

  • Can you schedule whole hours, afternoons or days for admin, financials, meetings or other work, to save mental ‘transition time’?
  • Can you schedule all uptown meetings on Tuesdays and all downtown meetings on Thursdays, to save travel time?

Dos & Don’ts

  • Don’t worry about capturing every little task that occasionally comes your way on your list.
  • Do focus on the big, time-consuming challenges, the frequent, repetitive tasks and the annoying, de-motivating parts of your job. These are the places you’ll make the greatest productivity and time-management gains.

These steps will leave you with a streamlined list of work tasks that focus on areas where you can be most productive. Well done – you deserve a nice long break. ;)

About the Author

Michele Connolly helps people move from procrastination to action. She believes you can be happier if you take action on your priorities. Michele's programs cover business, goals, home, personal organisation, writing and weight-loss, and are used by tens of thousands of people worldwide. Michele is a member of the National...