After your business is up and running, your focus naturally shifts to increasing efficiency. The small things you do to lower costs and increase output can be the difference between a failing business and soaring profits. No matter how good your team members are, you should tweak the environment in which they work to insure the best possible results.
There are many reasons why developing a protocol to measure efficiency benefits your business. You are able to pinpoint areas that need improvement, and you can break your team’s performance down by tasks. Perhaps you will notice that the whole process is going smoothly except for one minor operation that can be eliminated to improve efficiency. This kind of insight can help you restructure the physical environment or delegate tasks in a new way to increase efficiency. You can also evaluate the performance of individual employees. Take a look at how much you get out of employees versus how much you pay them.
Employees might be a bit nervous about your new methods of close observation and evaluation. This is acceptable and sometimes even beneficial, as employees will make an increased effort if they know their performance is being tracked. However, you don't have to be an intimidating taskmaster. This is a good opportunity to mix in positive reinforcement and show your appreciation for your team. You can offer incentives, such as public recognition, time off or a share in productivity gains. Whatever mode you choose, employees are sure to improve efficiency if they feel that good work is rewarded and they develop a sense of the needs of the business as a whole.
Employees need to have the appropriate equipment and technology to carry out their functions efficiently. A lazy and incompetent worker on a tractor will most likely outperform even the hardest-working person who is plowing manually. Regular maintenance and upgrades of your equipment might seem costly and burdensome, but they are critical to the success of your business. Making sure that your employees have the tools they need to get the job done will drastically improve your output per dollar spent or per unit of time. Keeping equipment up to par also prevents on the job injuries, possible lawsuits and time lost to malfunctions.
Skill is another side of employee efficiency. Your team must have the requisite skill sets to produce up to par, making on-the-job training and education generally worthwhile. Even though specialization and division of labor are important, your team's efficiency can benefit greatly through cross-training, which gives workers a broader perspective and an understanding of the context in which their work fits. It allows them to help each other and to prioritize more effectively, resulting in overall efficiency. This increased workforce agility allows workers to shift their capacity to where it is needed and reduces problems due to worker absences.