The productivity of any business predominantly depends upon the efficacy and skill of the team’s leader and managers. However, there are other ways to improve productivity to help your small business. It is not unheard of that employees engage in tasks that are not essential, and their work amounts to nothing by the end of the day. However, as a leader, it is essential that you understand the necessary things for your business. So, to ease your job, here are twelve productive ways to help grow your small business.

1. Planning

Planning is the key to stay organised and at the top of things. Sans a viable, realistic plan, productivity will waver, for time tracking will become virtually impossible. Initiate by establishing the major goals for the year. Next, dissect the major goal to minor goals that can be achieved in a quarter. Further segmentation will reveal the achievable tasks. Keeping a solid plan will help you maintain your business when time, money, and other resources are short.

2. Don’t Multitask

It is very natural to have a deep connection with your business and hope to achieve all the tasks yourself. However, it is practically impossible for you to complete all the things on your own. Hence, you have a team. Prioritisation is another critical quality for SMB owners as they should know which tasks require their personal oversight and touch and which tasks can be delegated to their trusted employees. At the start, take bite-sized pieces of work for yourself, and as you grow, grow your responsibilities with you. Remember, quality over quantity.

3. Task Delegation

Productivity can be enhanced dramatically by delegating tasks knowledgeably. Business owners looking for growth should know that admin and non-core tasks will not drive your business. As a result, they can be easily assigned to other people, and you can focus on what’s important.

4. Automation

Automation is probably the most iterated productivity tip for small business growth. Automation provides a tremendous opportunity for growth as it frees up the valuable time necessary for other tasks. For example, manual labour such as data entry is mundane tasks that reduce the productivity of white-collar workers. Also, human error is quite high in data processed by uninterested individuals. Automate them using a simple tool, and you shall kill two birds with one stone.

5. Success Definition

Productivity can be a vague term for your employees. Work can be done efficiently every day but solely equating revenue generated to productivity is a foolish choice. Hence, establish what you mean by productivity. Doing so will reduce the possibility of your team members engaging in useless tasks in the name of productivity.

6. Time Management

Preparing a plan is undeniably a great step towards improving productivity. However, without a similarly strict guideline establishing a schedule, planning will not work. Time management is critical to improving productivity. Create a schedule and stick to it.

7. Bookkeepers

When starting a new business, maintaining books should be an essential part of your routine. However, accounting and bookkeeping are tedious tasks that consume a lot of your time. Hiring an experienced bookkeeper will ease your responsibilities dramatically. With a professional at the helm, you will not constantly worry about the cash flow and management. It will also improve productivity by increasing time for other tasks.

8. Organisation

The organisation is the most common trait among all successful leaders and highly productive individuals. Therefore, being organised is the best productivity tip to grow your small business. The answer is simple: productivity enhances the efficiency as everyone knows exactly where everything is, unnecessary time wastage is prevented. Having a dedicated filing system is a great place to start.

9. Standardise Operation Guide

Apart from being organised, if the recurrent procedures in the office are standardised, productivity will observe a meteoric rise. As resources are thin for small businesses, it is essential that repeating tasks require the least amount of resources. Therefore, having well-thought-out and established procedures in place will ensure the lean and efficient growth of the organisation without worrying about the size.

10. Technology Adoption

As mentioned earlier, technology such as automation and digitisation can improve productivity dramatically. Another viable technology for productive growth for small businesses is the use of tools like Asana, Time Doctor, etc. These tools will streamline the tasks and increase efficiency.

11. Track Business Performance

Besides accounting, we also have a lot to catch up on. Tracking business performance before the initial progress jump is essential to create suitable strategies for the business in the future. The information gained by the business during its early age might help the business in later stages.

12. Agility

Business is filled with uncertainty and perils. It is a dynamic environment where one strategy that works today might not work tomorrow. Hence, every business should inculcate the agility required to shift to newer ideas fast. Moreover, being agile improves productivity as it often leads to increased employee satisfaction and happiness.